Workshop of Erasmus Grasser

With Georg Urban, Munich, 2008

A contemporary of Tilman Riemenschneider and Veit Stoss, Erasmus Grasser was one of the most influential late Gothic sculptors in southern Germany. Active in Munich, he is best known for his 'Morris Dancers' sculpted for the city's Old Town Hall.

With her elegant, elongated form and features, the present half-figure of Saint Odilia finds close stylistic parallels in Grasser's oeuvre, notably with the figure of Saint Anne in the Anna Selbdritt group in the Marienanstalt Warnberg, Munich (op. cit., no. 24). Compare also the female figures in the retable at Maria Ramersdorf (ibid., no. 26).

Saint Odilia is the patroness saint of the Alsace and of eyesight. Having been born blind, she miraculously regained her sight and was consequently depicted with a pair of eyes as her attribute.

RELATED LITERATURE

R. Eikelmann (ed.), Bewegte Zeiten: Der Bildhauer Erasmus Grasser, exh. cat. Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich, 2018