BERLIN - Gemäldegalerie is holding the first ever comprehensive exhibition in the German-speaking world on late Gothic art. Featuring some 130 objects – including impressive loans and key works from the collections of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – the show will juxtapose various artistic genres and media, revealing the full breadth of the media innovations of the 15th century and the art of the late Gothic era.

The exhibition will revolve around the progressive tendencies of the long transition period between the Middle Ages and the early modern age. Like perhaps no other epoch, in German-speaking regions, the period between 1430 and 1500 was marked by profound changes that continue to influence our understanding of art and images to this day. The exhibition includes a broad selection of works by well-known proponents of late Gothic art, such as Stefan Lochner, Konrad Witz, Niclaus Gerhaert von Leyden, and Tilman Riemenschneider.

Altar from St. Gereon , Cologne, around 1420, © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie / Christoph Schmidt 

Expressive Media and Motifs

Inspired by developments in the Netherlands, from the 1430s onwards, artistic means of expression began to change: light and shade, the body and space came to be depicted with increasing realism. Painting began to portray events from the Bible and the legends of the saints as if they were taking place in the era in which they were created. Konrad Witz’s Annunciation, for example, depicts the Virgin Mary in an entirely unspectacular fashion, located in a simple, unfurnished chamber, without even a cushion or prie-dieu.

Alongside religious art, though, the demand for profane subject matter also grew, with the late Gothic era seeing the birth of both landscape painting and, even more so, portraiture. The double portrait of Wilhelm IV, Count Schenk of Schenkenstein and Agnes, Countess of Werdenber-Trochtelfingen, for example, is considered one of the first modern portraits.

Over the course of the 15th century, various artistic centres emerged, each with their own clearly distinguishable styles. This is strikingly demonstrated in this exhibition by key works by Stefan Lochner from Cologne, the Master of the Darmstadt Passion from the Middle Rhine, or the rich collection of goldwork from Lüneberg.

Hans Multscher, The Elevation of Maria Magdalena, around 1430, © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Sculpture Collection and Museum of Byzantine Art / M. Hilbich

Printmaking and the Advent of the Printing Press

The evolution of printing technology was decisive for the course of European history as a whole. Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of movable type and the printing press around 1450 was particularly influential, suddenly making it possible to reproduce texts and images in large print runs. New ideas and motifs were now able to circulate rapidly through all of Europe. Through works such as Hans Multscher’s Wurzach Altar, the panel paintings of Konrad Witz and Stefan Lochner, or even the engravings of the Master of the Playing Cards, the exhibition highlights the radical artistic changes that began to take hold in the early 1430s.

Printmaking went on to become one of the most important artforms of the 15th century. Pictures increasingly came to be seen as autonomous artworks, and the individuals behind them gained wide-reaching fame as artists. Compositions such as those of the Master E.S. or Martin Schongauer served as templates for new artworks as far away as Spain and Poland – including paintings on canvas or glass, sculptures, textiles, and goldwork.

Often, artworks in the 15th century were produced through close collaborations between different crafts. Because of this, the exhibition brings together work produced in all media – with the exception of architecture – and illustrates how, for example, goldsmiths would reproduce motifs from sculpture or printmaking, or how the workshop of a single artist would often produce both paintings and sculptures.

Carrying the Lorcher Cross, Middle Rhine, around 1430, © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Sculpture Collection and Museum of Byzantine Art / Antje Voigt

Loans and Works from the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin’s Holdings 

The special exhibition The Late Gothic Era: The Birth of Modernity brings together key works from the holdings of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – from the Gemäldegalerie, the Skulpturensammlung, the Kupferstichkabinett, the Kunstgewerbemuseum and the Nationalgalerie and the Manuscripts Department of the Staatsbibliothek – with impressive loans from the National Gallery in London, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg.

Overseen by Michael Eissenhauer, the exhibition is co-curated by Julien Chapuis (Skulpturensammlung and Museum für Byzantinische Kunst), Stephan Kemperdick (Gemäldegalerie), Lothar Lambacher (Kunstgewerbemuseum) and Michael Roth (Kupferstichkabinett).

Saint Christophorus , South German, Lake Constance (?), Around 1430–1440, © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett / Jörg P. Anders

Publication

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue, published by Hatje Cantz in separate German and English editions, 360 pages, 215 reproductions, ISBN (German): 978-3-7757-4754-7, ISBN (English): ISBN 978-3-7757-4755-4, Price: ca. €40, available in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin webshop.

Arte, Der Tagesspiegel and Weltkunst are media partners of the exhibition.

Basel Workshop: Minne Tapestry with Couple and Griffin, ca. 1430–1450, woven textile, wool and linen, 105 x 148 cm © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kunstgewerbemuseum / Jürgen Bartsch

Master of the Playing Cards: Three in Birds, ca. 1435–1440, copperplate engraving, 12.6 x 8.9 © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett / Dietmar Katz

Konrad Witz: "The Queen of Sheba before King Salomon", Basel, around 1435–1440. © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie / Jörg P. Anders

Hans Multscher: wing of the Wurzach Altarpiece, 1437, canvas over fir wood, 150 x 140 cm © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie / Jörg P. Anders

Hans Multscher, panel of the Wurzacher Altar (Annunciation), Ulm, 1437, © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie / Jörg P. Anders

Konrad Witz: The Annunciation, ca. 1440, originally on pine, 158.1 x 120.6 cm © Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg.

Hans von Lafferde, citizen oath crystal, from the Lüneburg council silver, 1443, © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kunstgewerbemuseum / Hans-Joachim Bartsch

Master of the Karlsruhe Passion: The Karlsruhe Passion/The arrest of Christ, Strasbourg, ca. 1450, walnut, 76 x 57 cm, © Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum / Rheinisches Bildarchiv Cologne

 Master of the Karlsruhe Passion: The Karlsruhe Passion/Christ carrying the Cross, Strasbourg, ca. 1450, walnut, 76 x 57 cm, © Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum / Rheinisches Bildarchiv Cologne.

Master of the Karlsruhe Passion: The Karlsruhe Passion/The disrobing, Strasbourg, ca. 1450, walnut, 76 x 57 cm, © Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum / Rheinisches Bildarchiv Cologne.

Meister ES (?), Half-length portrait of a girl with a ring (Saint Catherine?), Strasbourg, 1450–1470, © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett / Jörg P. Anders

Rogier van der Weyden: The Annunciation from the Columba Altarpiece, ca. 1455, oak, 139,4 x 72,9 cm © Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen - Alte Pinakothek, Munchen

Hans Pleydenwurff, Man of Sorrows, diptych of the Bamberg canon and subdeacon Georg Graf von Löwenstein, Nuremberg, around 1456, © Kunstmuseum Basel

Hans Pleydenwurff, diptych of the Bamberg canon and subdeacon Georg Graf von Löwenstein, Nuremberg, around 1456, © Germanisches Nationalmuseum / Georg Janßen

Cologne master, The Madonna in front of the lawn bench with a donor family, around 1460, © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie / Christoph Schmidt

Master of the Darmstadt Passion, Mother God Enthroned with the Child, left wing of a cross altar, Middle Rhine, around 1460, © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie / Jörg P. Anders

Niclaus Gerhaert von Leyden: Bust of a Man, ca. 1463, red sandstone, 44 x 30 x 34 © Musée de l'Oeuvre Notre-Dame, Strasbourg

Niclaus Gerhaert von Leyden: Virgin and Child, the so-called Dangolsheim Madonna, 1463, walnut, with vestiges of the original paintwork, 102 x 42 x 46 cm © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Skulpturensammlung und Museum für Byzantinische Kunst / Antje Voigt.

Meister ES , the letter “N” from the figure alphabet, Strasbourg, around 1466–1467, © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett / Volker-H. cutter

Hallwyl reliquary from the Basel cathedral treasure , Strasbourg, before 1470, © Basel, Historisches Museum

Cologne Master, Love Magic, around 1470, European beechwood, 23.9 x 18 cm © Museum of Fine Arts, Leipzig / Michael Ehritt

Master of the Life of Mary, Maria in der Rosenlaube, Cologne, around 1470, © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie / Jörg P. Anders.

Master of the Mornau Portrait, Male Portrait, South German (Bavaria), around 1470–1480, © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett / Galerie Arnoldi-Livie, Munich

Reliquary statuette of Saint George , Netherlands or the Baltic region (or Lübeck?), Around 1475, © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kunstgewerbemuseum / Saturia Linke

Peter Hemmel: Healing of a Mute Man possessed by a Devil, ca. 1475-1480, white and colored glasses; Black solder, silver yellow, iron red; diameter: 36 - 37 cm. © Kunstgewerbemuseum der Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Prussian cultural heritage / Hans-Joachim Bartsch

Peter Hemmel: Triomphal Entry into Jerusalem, ca. 1475-1480, white and colored glasses; Black solder, silver yellow, iron red; diameter: 36 - 37 cm. © Kunstgewerbemuseum der Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Prussian cultural heritage / Hans-Joachim Bartsch

Martin Schongauer: The Nativity, c. 1480, oak wood, 38.6 x 27.9 cm. © Gemäldegalerie der Staatliche Museen zu Berlin / Christoph Schmidt.

Michel Erhart , Mother of God, Ulm, around 1480, © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Sculpture Collection and Museum of Byzantine Art / Antje Voigt

Peter Hemmel, stained glass with Saint Catherine, Strasbourg, 1481, © Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt

Confectionary bowl from the Lüneburg Council Silver, shortly before 1482, silver, embossed, cast, chased, gilded sections, enamel, 20 x 36.5 cm © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kunstgewerbemuseum / Saturia Linke.

Heinrich Hufnagel after the model by Michel Erhart, Mother of God, Augsburg, 1482, © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Sculpture Collection and Museum of Byzantine Art / Antje Voigt

Tilman Riemenschneider, The Annunciation, ca. 1485, Alabaster, Angel: 39,5 x 28,5 x 14 cm, Mary: 41 x  34 x 14 cm © Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Tilman Riemenschneider: Matthew the Evangelist, 1490-1492, limewood, 72.5 x 35 x 32 cm. © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Skulpturensammlung und Museum für Byzantinische Kunst / Antje Voigt.

Tilman Riemenschneider: Mark the Evangelist, 1490-1492, limewood, 73.5 x 40 x 25 cm. © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Skulpturensammlung und Museum für Byzantinische Kunst / Antje Voigt.

Tilman Riemenschneider: Luke the Evangelist, 1490-1492, limewood, 77 x 44 x 24 cm. © SStaatliche Museen zu Berlin, Skulpturensammlung und Museum für Byzantinische Kunst / Antje Voigt.

Tilman Riemenschneider: John the Evangelist, 1490-1492, limewood, 73 x 45 x 25 cm. © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Skulpturensammlung und Museum für Byzantinische Kunst / Antje Voigt.

Tilman Riemenschneider: Noli me tangere, from the Münnerstädter Altar, Würzburg, 1490-92, © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Sculpture Collection and Museum of Byzantine Art / Antje Voigt

Albrecht Dürer: The Wire Drawing Mill, 1489 or 1494, watercolours on paper, 29 x 42.6 cm © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett / Jörg P. Anders.

Albrecht Dürer: Christ as Man of Sorrows, ca. 1493-1494, mixed technique on pine, 30.1 x 18.8 cm © Staatliche Kuntshalle , Karfsruhe.

Johannes Gutenberg et al.: Gutenberg Bible (facsimile from Inc. 1511), vol. 2, pages 190 verso/191 recto © Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Preußischer Kulturbesitz