Attributed to Master of the Stauffenberg Altar active in Alsace, Mid-Fifteenth Century

Florence J. Gould, New York;
Her deceased sale, New York, Sotheby’s, April 25, 1985, lot 61 (as School of Avignon, late 15^th century), there purchased by the present collector.

Although previously considered a product of the Avignon school, this tender depiction of Lazarus at Dives’ Gate has more in common with the works of artists in and around Strasburg.  The city was an important crossroads and in the mid-fifteenth century the influences of the Flemish School, the international Gothic style and the native Rhineland were all very strong. The Strasburg school was centered around the figure of Jost Haller (1410 - before 1475), and the as yet anonymous Master of Stauffenberg Altar was one of its most important proponents.

The Master of the Stauffenberg Altar was named for the triptych of that name, now in the Musée d’Unterlinden in Colmar, with a central panel of a Pietà (see fig. 1).  The simplicity of the presentation and the clear outline of the figures suggest that Lazarus and the Pietà were painted by the same artist.  The similarities extend to specific details from the two panels, such as the shape of Lazarus’s and Christ’s lips and the structure of their legs with their skinny calves and the rather bulbous knees.  Furthermore, the overall effect in both compositions, a marked sense of quiet that encourages a contemplative response in the viewer, reinforces the attribution of Lazarus to the Master of the Stauffenberg Altar.  It should be noted, however, that other works attributed to the artist seem to show a different sensibility that is further from Lazarus at Dives’ Gate.¹

The subject of this panel is Lazarus and Dives, a parable recounted in Luke 16: 19-31.  Lazarus was a poor leper who sat outside the house of the rich man, Dives, hoping for scraps from his table. However, the only notice taken of him was the dogs who came to lick his sores.  When he died Lazarus was admitted to heaven, but Dives was condemned to hell for his selfishness.  Here we see Lazarus seated before a rather grand house attended by two extremely friendly looking dogs. In his left hand he holds a crutch and in his right the clappers that lepers carried to warn people of their approach.

See P. Lorentz, Jost Haller le peintre des chevalier et l’art en Alsace au XV^e siécle, Colmar 2001, pp. 191ff.