Chapelle 0 Issenheim Altarpiece Le Retable d’Issenheim “ There, in the former Unterlinden convent, whilst ensuring the sufferers received it appears as soon as one enters, a savage healthy food each day. They also provided work that immediately stuns you with the St Anthony’s balm*, a healing ointment awful nightmare of a Calvary […] with made from twelve plants with curative its trumpeting colours and tragic screams, properties. In addition to this treatment, with the violence of its apotheoses and the complex had a reputation for the its charnel house frenzies, it absorbs and amputation of gangrenous limbs, which enthrals you. ” Like the novelist Joris-Karl was performed by specialist surgeons. Huysmans, who described his encounter The altarpiece was also designed to play with the work in a book written in 1905, its part in the patients’ recovery by viewers of the Isenheim Altarpiece* offering them comfort and consolation are filled with fascination and admiration. through its very realistic and harrowing The altarpiece was made for the high presentation of the Crucifixion and the altar* of the wealthy Antonite monastic hope of recovery conveyed by the scene of complex of Isenheim, and has been the Resurrection. displayed in the chapel of the Dominican For many years, the paintings and sculp- convent of Unterlinden since the opening tures were erroneously attributed to of the museum in 1853. Albrecht Dürer, but are now recognised as The emotional power of this monumental the work of Grünewald and Nikolaus polyptych painted by Grünewald and Hagenhauer. Whilst Grünewald’s sculpted by Nikolaus Hagenhauer biography remains obscure, we have more between 1512 and 1516 derives from the documentation on the life of Nikolaus quality of the painting, the richness of its Hagenhauer. The entire altarpiece colours and the expressivity of the scenes was probably made in his workshop in and the figures. Its seven panels of lime Strasbourg in the early 16 th century. wood and ten sculptures illustrate several The sculptor was active in the Alsatian capi- episodes from the lives of Christ and tal between 1486 and 1529, producing St Anthony the hermit, the patron saint of numerous altarpieces, including the the community. polyptych for the high altar of Strasbourg cathedral in around 1500. Origin and function Grünewald, the enigmatic artist whose The monastic complex of Isenheim was real name was Mathis Nithart Gothart, founded in around 1300 about twenty was born in Würzburg in around 1480 and kilometres from Colmar, as an outpost of died in Halle in 1528. He was a painter the Antonite order of hospital brothers*, and hydraulic engineer, a learned figure whose vocation was to care for victims of with an understanding of nature and “ St Anthony’s fire ”. The disease was techniques. His output was relatively nothing short of a plague in the Middle modest, consisting of ten painted works Ages, caused by the ingestion of rye flour and around forty drawings. made from grain contaminated with the ergot fungus, which led to convulsive Presentation and gangrenous symptoms. As it stands, the altarpiece is presented To treat these afflictions, the Antonites in an incomplete state ; it was dismantled administered the “ saint vinage ”, an in the wake of the French Revolution, lea- infusion of plants that was brought into ding to the loss of the sculpted structure contact with the relics of St Anthony, that crowned the work. musee-unterlinden.com 1 Chapelle 0 Issenheim Altarpiece Structurally, the altarpiece belongs to the category of double-winged polyptychs, meaning it was designed to allow three different presentations, which were proba- bly governed by the liturgical* calendar. Mathis Gothart Nithart, known as Grünewald (painting) and Nikolaus Hagenauer (sculptures), Isenheim Altarpiece, Altarpiece open, c. 1512 – 1516 Altarpiece open (Second opening) When fully opened, the altarpiece reveals a majestic sculpture of the community’s Mathis Gothart Nithart, known as Grünewald, Isenheim patron saint, sitting on a throne between Altarpiece, Altarpiece closed, c. 1512 – 1516 St Augustine and St Jerome. Flanking the sculptures are painted panels depicting Altarpiece closed St Anthony Tormented by Demons and The When closed, the altarpiece reveals a Visit of St Anthony to St Paul. The predella terrifying vision of the Crucifixion filled shows Christ as the Saviour of the World with suffering, flanked by panels depicting amidst the apostles. the two saints who were invoked against epidemics : St Anthony and St Sebastian, Altarpiece : refers to a painted and/or sculpted work to whom people prayed for protection standing above the altar of a church or chapel. The against the plague. Beneath the central altarpiece consists of a corpus (the main body), wings, a scene, the predella* contains a depiction predella (the base) and a decorative sculpted section above of the Entombment. the corpus. Balm : soothing ointment applied to wounds or burns High altar : main altar in the choir of a church where the priest celebrates mass Liturgical : relating to the form of worship prescribed by the Church Order of hospital brothers : religious order whose members’ vocation was to care for the sick Predella : painted or sculpted work forming the base of an Mathis Gothart Nithart, known as Grünewald (painting) and Nikolaus Hagenauer (sculptures), Isenheim Altarpiece, altarpiece Intermediate presentation, c. 1512 – 1516 Intermediate presentation (First opening) The first opening of the altarpiece reveals the luminous panels depicting the Annunciation, the Concert of Angels, the Nativity and the Resurrection, all of which express symbols of joy and hope. musee-unterlinden.com 2.