A lifesize South German gilt and painted lindenwood group of the Madonna and Child, from the circle of Hans Multscher (1400- before 1467), circa 1480

Julius Böhler, Munich, 1960
Kremayr Collection, Vienna

Losses and chipping to paint, worming, and age cracks throughout. Reattached or restored elements throughout including: tips of crescent, parts of base, top of her nose, arms of Child and His proper left foot, some pieces of drapery such as section along back right side, part of veil and portion along lower proper left side near knee. Some age cracks have been consolidated with linen. Two old iron staples at top and bottom of back to support one large vertical crack. Two sections at either side of back of base replaced. Her proper right hand replaced. Crown later. Old iron rings behind.
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The sculptor of this charming and imposing group and was clearly inspired by the work of the master sculptor Hans Multscher (circa 1400- before 1467), a journeyman who settled in Ulm, Swabia and founded a large workshop there. His position as the sculptor most responsible for the change from the formal Schöne Stile of the International Gothic style, exemplified by the doll-like faces of figures and exaggerated  s-curved forms, to the human interpretation of forms and a greater realism helped to make Ulm the center for the production of fine wood sculpture in Germany.

The mass and angularity of the drapery folds as well as the full , rounded faces in the present sculpture recall  two related sculptures of the Madonna and Child, one from his workshop, circa 1450 in the catholic parish church of St. Martin in Opfingen and another, circa 1470, attributed to a follower of Multscher in the 1997 exhibition of his work and his circle (Multscher, op. cit., pp. 172 and 173, nos. 5 and 6) from the parish church at Blaustein-Arnegg. The combination of v-folds and the horizontal swathe of drapery through the Virgin's mid-section is also seen in earlier examples of Multscher's work and those by sculptors in his workshop (Grober, op. cit., cat. 36, p. 361-2, fig. 4, p.171).

The general style of the turbaned headdress adorning this Madonna is the same as that seen on other figures from Ulm,  compare the relief of Hannah from a choir stall in the Cathedral of Ulm, attributed to Jorg Syrlin the Elder (a follower of Multscher) (op. cit., fig. 7) and a Madonna in the Decorative Arts Museum, Ulm (op. cit., fig. 9). Furthermore, a late 15th century Swabian figure of a female saint in the Louvre (Paris, 1991-2, op. cit., fig. 54) is carved with the same turban-like headdress accentuated by a long veil falling to one side.

This fine sculpture was probably at the center of an altar or shrine, common in Southern Germany and Austria in the late Gothic period, and surrounded by painted panels and low relief carvings of Saints or Marian scenes.

RELATED LITERATURE

K. Grober, Schwäbische Skulptur de Spätgotik, Munich, 1922, figs. 7-9
H. Beck, Liebieghaus-Museum alter Plastik, Guide to the Collections, Frankfurt, 1980, pp. 177-183 and 223, figs. 124, 126, 138, 154
Sculptures Allemandes de la fin du Moyen Age (exh. cat.), Musée du Louvre, Paris, 1991-1992, p.198, fig. 54
Hans Multscher, Bildhauer der Spätgotik in Ulm (exh. cat.),1997, pp. 421-422, figs. 61-62