Attributed to Michael Kern (1580-1649), South German, circa 1610

Probably from an altar in a church near Karlstadt am Main, near Würzburg
Private Collection,  Schloss Mühlbach am Main, recorded by Feulner in 1912
Loaned to Mainfränkisches Museum in Würzburg (inv.nos.40240-40241) from 1948-1975
By descent to the present owner

L.Feulner, Kunstdenkmäler von Bayern, Bd.III, Heft VI, 1912, p.137
M.Freeden,  Mainfränkisches Museum Würzburg, Neuerwerbungen 1946-56, offprint from the Mainfränkischen Jahrbuch 8/1956, part 1, p.31
V.Schneider, Michael Kern (1580-1649): Forschungen aus Wurttembergish Franken, 2003, Cat. E1, colour plates 23,24

Michael Kern was born in Forchtenberg, Hohenlohe in 1580, the younger brother of Leonard with whom he closely collaborated. Gradmann records that alabaster was one of Michael's most favoured materials and would have been easily accessible; indeed the Kern family had an alabaster mine which was connected by a tunnel to their house in Forchtenberg. Formerly on loan to the Mainfränkisches Museum, Würzburg, the present figures of St. Peter and St. Paul would have originally formed part of an altarpiece and were recorded as coming from a church in the region of Karlstadt am Main. Recently published by Schneider, they can be closely compared with the alabaster figures by Michael Kern dating to 1612-13 on the chancel in the Wallfahrtskirche Dettelsbach; note the treatment to the drapery carved with deep folds and bordered with gilding, the hands and in particular the physiognomy with the incised eyes and the well defined hair and beard. Indeed the main entrance to the Dettelsbach church, carved in stone, incorporates on either side two larger figures of St. Peter and St. Paul which closely mirror the present figures. Micheal Kern is further recorded as executing figures of St. Peter and St. Paul for an altar in the church of Grosskomburg, Württemberg in 1607 which Schneider compares to the present figures as well as with the figure of St.Paul in Schwäbisch Gmünd. A further parrallel can be made with the figures of St. Matthew and St. Mark in the chancel of Würzburg cathedral.

RELATED LITERATURE
G.Gradmann, Die monumentalwerke der Bildhauerfamilie Kern, Strassburg 1917, pp.102-103
V.Schneider, 'Michael Kern III, Der Bildhauer von Forchtenberg', in Die Kunstlerfamilier Kern 1529-1691, Hohenloher Bildhauer und Baume, Hohenloher Bildhauer und Baumeister des Barock, published by the town of Forchtenberg on the occasion of its 700th anniversary, Sigmaringen 1998, S.33-63.
Vera Schneider, Michael Kern: (1580-1649), Leben und Werk eines deutschen Bildhauers zwischen Renaissance und Barock, Ostfildern 2003, Forschungen aus Württembergisch Franken, Bd. 49.