We visited Colmar in 2011 (https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2011/07/colmar.html; and https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2011/07/musee-unterlinden.html), and maybe earlier too, but wanted to return for the great art in its Unterlinden Museum and other well preserved sights. I did two Colmar blog posts in 2011, but back then we were way less into history of art and architecture and such things. And the Unterlinden Museum was vastly enlarged in the succeeding years, enabling far more of its collection to be displayed. The museum is probably the best in Alsace, especially its collection of paintings and such by Martin Schongauer, Durer's predecessor and inspiration. And plenty of other significant art too. But it is the Isenheim Altarpiece that is the museum's main attraction and claim to fame.
A few more words of explanation. The museum mainly occupies a 13th century Dominican sisters' convent. More recently, the old public baths were added to the complex. The Isenheim Altarpiece is both sculpture and painting, the sculpture by Nikolaus Haguenaue and the painting by Mattias Grunewald, done in 1512-1516, for the Monastery of St. Anthony in Issenheim, near Colmar. The Monastery's central (earthly) mission was care for victims of plague and especially skin diseases, chiefly ergotism, aka "St. Anthony's Fire," which comes from mold in rye bread. In addition to the Black Death, St. Anthony's Fire was a major disease and cause of death in the Middle Ages. The Isenheim Altarpiece is noted for its accurate depiction of this and other diseases. As with Medieval altarpieces generally, the Isenheim Altarpiece is many paintings, and sculpture, front-and-back folding wings and such, layered, the whole affair not made visible except on the most special religious occasions. At the Unterlinden it is displayed in the old convent's chapel, taking up most of the area, its various layers separated from one another, and with ample interpretive signage and models one can work to see how these things were to be viewed and understood.
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| Helpful map of the complex |
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| And model |
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Over-looking the chapel and the display of the Isenheim
Altarpiece |
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The main sculptural bit, St. Anthony flanked by a couple
of the church doctors, Jerome and Augustine |
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Assorted scenes from the several panels...all oil on wood...the use of
canvas was just beginning, although the use of oil had begun with
van Eyck a few generations before Isenheim |
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| The usual scenes...Resurrection, Annunciation... |
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| Heavenly music, Madonna and Bambino |
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And everyone's favorite, the temptations/torment
of St. Anthony; note furry buck-toothed creature in
the center ("Bucee"); Bosch was active at pretty
much this time, up north in the Netherlands (died
1516); reminiscent of his more fantastical work but
not as rich, complex, imaginative, detailed...IMHO |
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One of the several models of the altarpiece whereby one can
manipulate the assorted panels and wings... |
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| Bucee is the museum's official mascot |
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One of many pages of interpretive/historical information;
the altarpiece received a thorough cleaning and renovation
in recent years, and these processes also are documented
in the the interpretive signage; and in English too |
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| Main sculpture in perspective |
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| In the gift store...a nice puzzle for your child... |
