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Lot Essay
These panels are the only remaining parts of the Saint Lambert altar in private ownership. The panels were located on the outside of the closed altar wings: the scenes of Saint Peter Reviving a Dead Man and the Death of Simon Magus are the only surviving panels from the left hand, and The Baptism of the Apostle Paul is one of four panels on the right hand wing (the other three being in the museums of Hanover and Neuss).
The Saint Lambert Altar, dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul, is one of the most important works of the fifteenth century in the area of Lower Saxony. The altar was in the Saint Lambert Church in Hildesheim until the middle of the last century when it was dismantled, probably to be sold and the parts dispersed (G.Neitzert, 'Der Peter-und-Pauls-Altar der St.-Lamberti-Kirche in Hildesheim' Niederdeutsche Beitrge zur Kunstgeschichte, VI, 1967, p.128).
Since 1946, three panels have been on view in St. Lambert again as loans from the Roemer Museum in Hildesheim: the central panel of the altar, depicting the Crucifixion, and two panels depicting the Agony in the Garden and the Taking of Christ. Nine more panels are in German museums: four have been in the Herzog Anton-Ulrich Museum in Brunswick since 1865; the Landesgalerie in Hanover later acquired the Conversion of Paul and the Flight from Damascus, and the
Westflisches Landesmuseum in Mnster owns the Last Judgement (on loan to the Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nuremberg). The Clemens Sels Museum in Neuss has two panels, the Ascension of Christ and Saul Taking Leave from the Sanhedrin. Two remaining scenes on the reverse sides of the Agony in the Garden and the Taking of Christ have been destroyed.
The entire altar has been reconstructed by Irmgard Feldhaus in 1951
(I. Feldhaus, Zwei Flgel-Teile des Peter-und-Pauls-Altares der Hildesheimer Lambertikirche im Neuer Museum, Das Mnster, IV, Munich 1951, pp. 262 and 269), with slight modifications by Neitzert in 1967. Stylistically, it has been compared to works by the Westphalian masters Konrad von Soest, the 'Warendorfer Meister' and the 'Pauli-Meister' in Soest (Neitzert, op. cit., p. 142), and shows the influence of Master Bertram and painting in Lbeck (Neitzert, op. cit., p. 146). It is however the only known work by this artist (Neitzert, op. cit., p. 150). Neitzert's date of circa 1420 is based on a document from 1433 in the Hildesheim town archive mentioning the altar, and also takes into consideration the altar by the 'Barfer-Meister' in St. Magdalen's church in Gttingen, formerly in Hildesheim, which is dated 1424 and copies the group of women from the St. Lambert Crucifixion (Neitzert, op. cit., pp. 147 and 150).
The Saint Lambert Altar, dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul, is one of the most important works of the fifteenth century in the area of Lower Saxony. The altar was in the Saint Lambert Church in Hildesheim until the middle of the last century when it was dismantled, probably to be sold and the parts dispersed (G.Neitzert, 'Der Peter-und-Pauls-Altar der St.-Lamberti-Kirche in Hildesheim' Niederdeutsche Beitrge zur Kunstgeschichte, VI, 1967, p.128).
Since 1946, three panels have been on view in St. Lambert again as loans from the Roemer Museum in Hildesheim: the central panel of the altar, depicting the Crucifixion, and two panels depicting the Agony in the Garden and the Taking of Christ. Nine more panels are in German museums: four have been in the Herzog Anton-Ulrich Museum in Brunswick since 1865; the Landesgalerie in Hanover later acquired the Conversion of Paul and the Flight from Damascus, and the
Westflisches Landesmuseum in Mnster owns the Last Judgement (on loan to the Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nuremberg). The Clemens Sels Museum in Neuss has two panels, the Ascension of Christ and Saul Taking Leave from the Sanhedrin. Two remaining scenes on the reverse sides of the Agony in the Garden and the Taking of Christ have been destroyed.
The entire altar has been reconstructed by Irmgard Feldhaus in 1951
(I. Feldhaus, Zwei Flgel-Teile des Peter-und-Pauls-Altares der Hildesheimer Lambertikirche im Neuer Museum, Das Mnster, IV, Munich 1951, pp. 262 and 269), with slight modifications by Neitzert in 1967. Stylistically, it has been compared to works by the Westphalian masters Konrad von Soest, the 'Warendorfer Meister' and the 'Pauli-Meister' in Soest (Neitzert, op. cit., p. 142), and shows the influence of Master Bertram and painting in Lbeck (Neitzert, op. cit., p. 146). It is however the only known work by this artist (Neitzert, op. cit., p. 150). Neitzert's date of circa 1420 is based on a document from 1433 in the Hildesheim town archive mentioning the altar, and also takes into consideration the altar by the 'Barfer-Meister' in St. Magdalen's church in Gttingen, formerly in Hildesheim, which is dated 1424 and copies the group of women from the St. Lambert Crucifixion (Neitzert, op. cit., pp. 147 and 150).