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Lot Essay
The late 15th and early 16th centuries saw a flourishing of sculptural production in the region of Swabia in southern Germany. During the period, the town of Biberach emerged as a significant artistic centre, though much of it remains poorly documented. One of its most important figures is an anonymous artist known today as the ‘Biberach Master’ or ‘Master of the Biberach Holy Kinship’. This name derives from a large multi-figural relief of the subject housed in the Dominican Museum, Rottweil (inv. no. L93). Little is known about his life but some scholars have previously associated him with sculptor Michael Zeynsler, recorded in Biberach between 1515 and 1541, although this connection has since been contested (Guillot de Suduiraut, op. cit. p. 310). The Biberach Master’s extant works, all dating to circa 1515-1525, stand out for their exceptional quality, exquisitely detailed carving and sensitivity of expression, demonstrating the hand of a highly skilled artist at work. Examples from his oeuvre are today housed in museums internationally and include Saint Roch and the Angel (Metropolitan Museum, New York, inv. no, 60.126), Saint Sebastian (Bode-Museum, Berlin, inv. no. 10⁄84), The Last Judgement (Museum of Fine Arts, Lyon, inv. no. D-678) and Anna Selbdritt (The Bavarian National Museum, Munich, inv. no. L 2022⁄80).
The present lot with the Virgin’s delicately rendered tresses of hair, elegant drapery and animated Christ Child bears all the stylistic hallmarks associated with the Master and his circle. The square recess in the orb held by the Virgin would once have been used to display a holy relic, likely covered by small door made from a transparent material such as rock crystal so that the relic could be both protected and admired.
A note on the provenance
Jakob Goldschmidt (1882-1955) was one of the most significant art collectors of his time in Germany. His vaunted, curated collection spanned from major French Impressionist and post-Impressionist art, through Old Master paintings, medieval and Renaissance art, decorative arts and porcelain. A prominent leader in the banking, finance and business worlds, notably as co-founder of the Danat bank, German-Jewish Goldschmidt became an early focal hate-figure for the National Socialists during their ascendancy to power. He fled Germany in 1933, emigrating to New York in 1936. Cut off from funds in Germany, subject to the restrictive National Socialist tax regulations and enmeshed in complex financial arrangements, Goldschmidt was reliant on family and connections for support. Although able to take part of his collection including the porcelain out of Germany, much of his art was sold via auction in Germany between 1936 and 1941, including property forcibly forfeited to the Reich. The present lot is recorded in a photograph from 1933 taken by Max Missmann of the interior of Jakob Goldschmidt’s home at Matthäikirchstrasse 31 (today Herbert-von-Karajan-Strasse) in Berlin [fig. 1].
The present lot with the Virgin’s delicately rendered tresses of hair, elegant drapery and animated Christ Child bears all the stylistic hallmarks associated with the Master and his circle. The square recess in the orb held by the Virgin would once have been used to display a holy relic, likely covered by small door made from a transparent material such as rock crystal so that the relic could be both protected and admired.
A note on the provenance
Jakob Goldschmidt (1882-1955) was one of the most significant art collectors of his time in Germany. His vaunted, curated collection spanned from major French Impressionist and post-Impressionist art, through Old Master paintings, medieval and Renaissance art, decorative arts and porcelain. A prominent leader in the banking, finance and business worlds, notably as co-founder of the Danat bank, German-Jewish Goldschmidt became an early focal hate-figure for the National Socialists during their ascendancy to power. He fled Germany in 1933, emigrating to New York in 1936. Cut off from funds in Germany, subject to the restrictive National Socialist tax regulations and enmeshed in complex financial arrangements, Goldschmidt was reliant on family and connections for support. Although able to take part of his collection including the porcelain out of Germany, much of his art was sold via auction in Germany between 1936 and 1941, including property forcibly forfeited to the Reich. The present lot is recorded in a photograph from 1933 taken by Max Missmann of the interior of Jakob Goldschmidt’s home at Matthäikirchstrasse 31 (today Herbert-von-Karajan-Strasse) in Berlin [fig. 1].