Both this book and the exhibition, Gothic and Renaissance Art in Nuremberg, document the artistic vitality of one of the most influential urban centers in Europe to arise at the end of the Middle Ages. The selection of specific works of art, and the essays that illuminate them, give a clear focus to the period from the fourteenth through the first half of the sixteenth century. This was a transitional and pivotal time for Nuremberg in its evolution from an important but artistically self-contained Late Gothic town to a Renaissance city, whose artistic, humanistic, technological, and scientific endeavors were of far-reaching consequence. The production of works of art—including some of the highest moments of human achievement—paralleled the city's strengthening commercial position. The benevolent yet firm hand of a patrician government produced a stable environment, while members of the great families became the leading patrons.
The present occasion is a special "first" in several respects. Never before has such a constellation of fine Medieval and Renaissance objects been permitted to leave Germany for exhibition in the United States. This event provides the American public with a unique opportunity to study and enjoy a historic sampling of Nuremberg's past. Included here are objects created by important anonymous masters, such as the so-called "Hansel" Fountain Figure and the Schlüsselfelder Ship, along with major groups of works by such celebrated Nuremberg artists as Veit Stoss, Albrecht Dürer, Hans Suess von Kulmbach, Hans Baldung Grien, Peter Vischer the Elder and his sons, and Peter Flötner. Much of this art, which belongs to the museums and churches of Nuremberg, and to the city itself, is the nucleus of both this catalogue and the exhibition that it accompanies.
The exhibition, likewise, is an especially valuable event for the Nuremberg public, who will see assembled in its city many well-known masterpieces that, over the centuries, have been dispersed to such far-flung locations as Aachen, Baltimore, Berlin, Boston, Cleveland, Detroit, Dublin, London, Oxford, Paris, and Vienna.
While there have been other efforts, both by way of publications and exhibitions, to examine significant portions of the art and culture of Nuremberg's history—the most recent being Jeffrey Chipps Smith's excellent Nuremberg, A Renaissance City, 1500–1618, Austin, The University of Texas, 1983—the direction that the current project has taken, from its inception in 1982, has centered upon the inclusion of the widest possible range of works of art, diversified both in medium and in function, from the Late Gothic and the Renaissance periods (1300–1550), closing with examples by Peter Flötner and mid-sixteenth-century arms and armor. The result is unprecedented for its comprehensiveness.
Another milestone of Gothic and Renaissance Art in Nuremberg is that it represents the remarkable international collaboration between the Germanisches Nationalmuseum and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The project, initiated by the Metropolitan Museum but quickly augmented and given impetus by the museum in Nuremberg, has been formed, carried forward, and refined by the two curators-in-charge, Rainer Kahsnitz and William D. Wixom. The selection of subjects and objects is theirs. This effort has resulted in a valuable overview of many aspects of the theme of the exhibition and, at the same time, has led to intelligent reappraisals of a number of unfamiliar—as well as familiar—works of art. [This book was originally published in 1986 and has gone out of print. This edition is a print-on-demand version of the original book.]

Gothic and Renaissance Art in Nuremberg, 1300–1550

Arts & Photography

Kahsnitz, Rainer

Wixom, William D.

History & Criticism

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Monumental carved, winged altarpieces are the most ambitious artworks from the Middle Ages, incorporating the skills of painters, sculptors, and cabinetmakers. Those that are most notable for their artistic originality and masterly execution were produced in the southern German-speaking regions, including Austria and South Tirol, in the last decades of the Late Gothic period (roughly 1460 to 1525). By that time altarpieces had evolved from low, fixed panels to large wooden structures with rich architectural ornamentation. Paintings of the saints often adorned the movable wings, while carved reliefs or freestanding sculptures of scenes from the Gospels occupied the gilded, center shrine. Rainer Kahsnitz offers a close examination of twenty-two of the most important surviving altarpieces, discussing the historical context in which they were made and analyzing how their pictorial programs reflect changing notions of piety. The sumptuous color illustrations capture the altarpieces in all their possible arrangements. The stunning details of these pieces--riotous locks of hair, swirling fabric, and thickets of twisted vines--vividly demonstrate the consummate skill of the master artisans who created them.

Carved Splendor: Late Gothic Altarpieces in Southern Germany, Austria, and South Tirol

J.paul Getty Museum

Die großen Schnitzaltäre

Hirmer Verlag GmbH

Book by Bott, Gerhard, De Montebello, Philippe, Kahsnitz, Rainer, Wixom, William

Gothic and Renaissance Art in Nuremberg 1300-1500

De Montebello, Philippe

Bott, Gerhard

Wixom, William

Te Neues Pub Group

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