Lot Essay
According to Ludwig Meyer (written communication), the present picture is comparable in style to the high altarpiece, dated 1477, in the Abbey of Churwalden. The Master's workshop is believed to have been active in the Hochrein between Basel and Lake Konstanz, where a related picture, the Dreikönigsaltar, was also painted around 1478 for the Monastery of Rheinfelden (see A. Stange, Kritisches Verzeichnis der deutschen Tafelbilder vor Dürer II, Munich, 1970, nos. 391 and 393). Meyer prefers, however, to date the present picture slightly later, to around 1480/90.
The panel is from the inside left wing of an altarpiece, which would have comprised two scenes: above The Adoration would have been placed The Nativity, with The Pentecost and The Death of the Virgin on the opposite wing.
The panel is from the inside left wing of an altarpiece, which would have comprised two scenes: above The Adoration would have been placed The Nativity, with The Pentecost and The Death of the Virgin on the opposite wing.