Michael Pacher

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Michael Pacher (c. 1435 – 1498) was a painter and sculptor from Tyrol active during the second half of the fifteenth century. He was one of the earliest artists to introduce the principles of Renaissance painting into Germany. Pacher was a comprehensive artist with a broad range of sculpting, painting, and architecture skills producing works of complex wood and stone. He painted structures for altarpieces on a scale unparalleled in North European art.

Pacher's masterpiece, the St. Wolfgang Altarpiece (1471–1481), is considered one of the most remarkable carved and painted

Pacher's influence was primarily North Italian, and his work shares characteristics with that of painters such as Andrea Mantegna. German influences, however, are also evident in his work, especially in his wood sculpture. Pacher's fusion of Italian Renaissance and Northern Gothic realism helped him to produce a uniquely personal style of painting.

Early life

Pacher was born around 1435^[2] near Brixen on the southern slopes of the Alps in the County of Tyrol. Little is known of his training. His earliest recorded work is an altarpiece that was dated 1465 and signed, but which is now lost. Pacher visited Padua in northern Italy, where he became heavily influenced by the modern fresco work of Andrea Mantegna. Mantegna was considered the renowned master of perspective, whose stunning, low-set standpoint spatial compositions were important to the development of Pacher's own style. Pacher's Italian influences set him apart from most German artists of the time.

By 1467, Pacher was a distinguished artist and sculptor in

Arguably his most well-known work, the St. Wolfgang Altarpiece, remains in its original location and setting in St. Wolfgang im Salzkammergut on the Abersee (the western end of lake Wolfgangsee) in Austria. The altarpiece is a polyptych, or Wandelaltar, where a painting is divided into four or more segments or panels. There are two pairs of movable wings, and three different displays for use on different occasions: an everyday display, a Sunday display, and a display for special holy days.

Commissioned for Abbot Benedict Eck of Mondsee in 1471 and completed in 1481, the giant polyptych has two sets of wings that can be closed across the inner corpus with the sculptured Coronation presenting a majestic array of huge Gothic figures dominated by the beautifully kneeling Madonna. The carved and painted gold centerpiece is visible when the inner panels are open, and shows the Coronation of the Virgin. The outer two pairs of painted wings represent four scenes of Saint Wolfgang. Wolfgang was appointed as bishop Benedictine of Ratisbon, where he established himself radiantly for his revolutionary passions and also for his skills as statesman.

The entire altarpiece is overshadowed by an elaborate wooden structure that is placed on top, enclosing the Crucifixion. In the centerpiece, Christ is sitting on a throne sincerely blessing Mary, whom he has crowned as the Queen of Heaven. In keeping with the traditions of German Gothic art, angels are fluttering around while John the Evangelist looks on. The inner faces of the second panels, on both sides of the carved body, are painted with scenes from the life of the Virgin.^[4]

Some scholars believe that Pacher was not the only artist who has contributed to this very large altarpiece. His brother Friedrich Pacher may have painted the outer pieces of work depicting scenes from the life of Saint Wolfgang that are visible only when the altarpiece is closed shut. Nevertheless, the inner paintings all seem to have been completed by Michael Pacher himself.

Altarpiece of the Church Fathers

The Altarpiece of the Church Fathers, created in 1483 for Neustift Monastery, is probably Pacher's second most famous work. The significance in this work by Pacher lies in that the boundary between painting and sculpture was no longer clear.

The Altarpiece of the Church Fathers is divided into four sections, with each section depicting one of the four Great Doctors of the Western Church:

To Augustine's right is Pope Gregory I, depicted with Emperor Trajan, for whom Gregory I is known to have prayed to restore dead Trajan's soul and baptized his soul in order to deliver him from purgatory. On the very right is the archbishop Ambrose, shown with a baby in a cradle, which probably symbolizes a legend regarding his life: when Ambrose was in his cradle as a baby, a swarm of bees covered his face and left a drop of honey. Ambrose’s father took it as a sign of Ambrose’s future ability as an eloquent speaker (sweet-tongue). Another interpretation of the child in a cradle is that it was a child who requested that Ambrose be bishop of Milan. Each the four Church Fathers are depicted with a dove, symbolizing the presence of the Holy Spirit in order to represent their holiness.

Death

Michael Pacher died in 1498, possibly in Salzburg, Austria.^{[citation needed]}

Works

The following works are attributable to Michael Pacher.^[5]

• St. Thomas Becket Altar, Johanneum, Graz, 1465
• Statue of the Virgin, Parish Church, St. Lorenzen im Pustertal, c. 1465
• Wing panels, Parish Church, St. Lorenzen im Pustertal, c. 1465
• Frescoes on the Vaulting, Sacristy, Neustift Abbey, Italy, 1469–70
• Tabernacle, Welsberg-Taisten, Italy, c. 1470
• Flight into Egypt, Kunstmuseum Basel, c. 1470
• St. Wolfgang Altarpiece, Parish Church, St. Wolfgang im Salzkammergut, Austria, 1471–81
• Altar of the Coronation of the Virgin, Old Parish Church of Gries, Bolzano, Italy, 1475
• Statue of the Virgin and Child, Old Parish Church of Gries, Bolzano, Italy
• Frescoes Above the South Door, Collegiate Church, Innichen, Italy, c. 1480
• Altarpiece of the Church Fathers, Alte Pinakothek, Munich, 1480–83
• Statue of Saint Lawrence, Tyrolean State Museum, Innsbruck, c. 1480–90
• Statue of Saint Michael, Bavarian National Museum, Munich, 1482–84
• Crucifix,
  National Museum, Warsaw, c. 1490^[6]
• Four Panels with Heads of Saints, Wilten Abbey, Innsbruck
• High Altar, Franciscan Church, Salzburg, c. 1495
• Statue of the Virgin, Franciscan Church, Salzburg
• Betrothal of the Virgin and the Flagellation of Christ, Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna
• Joseph Lowered into the Well, Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna
• Head of Saint Anne, Private Collection, Vienna
• The Devil Presenting St. Augustine with the Book of Vices "A Difference Over Augustine". 2016-03-10. Archived from the original on 2019-07-28. Retrieved 2019-07-28.

Gallery

• 
  Statue of the Virgin, Parish Church, St. Lorenzo in Pusteria, c. 1465
• 
  Saint Katharina, 1465
• 
  Altar of the Coronation of the Virgin, Gries, Italy, 1475
• 
  Altar of the Coronation of the Virgin (detail), Gries, Italy, 1475
• 
  St. Wolfgang Altarpiece, Baptism of Christ, 1479–81
• 
  St. Wolfgang Altarpiece, Marriage at Cana, 1479–81
• 
  St. Wolfgang Altarpiece, Miracle of the Bread, 1479–81
• 
  St. Wolfgang Altarpiece, Purification of the Temple, 1479–81
• 
  St. Wolfgang Altarpiece, Christ and the Adulteress, 1479–81
• 
  Collegiate Church, San Candido, Italy, c. 1480
• 
  Altarpiece of the Church Fathers left panel showing Saint Jerome, 1480–83
• 
  Altarpiece of the Church Fathers front panel, Vision of Saint Sigisbert, 1480–83
• 
  King of the Root of Jesse, 1485
• 
  Crucifix, c. 1490

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Osborne, Harold (1970). The Oxford Companion to Art. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 801.
  ISBN 9780198661078
  .
• Rasmo, Nicolò (1971). Michael Pacher. London: Phaidon Press Ltd.
  ISBN 9780714814179
  .
• Snyder, James (2004). Northern Renaissance Art. New York: Pearson. p. 275.
  ISBN 9780131895645
  .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Michael Pacher.

• Web Gallery of Art
• Works and analysis
• [1] Stamp of Austria issued in 1981 for the 500th year of the Altar