Last Name: Broegel

First Name: Matthias

Birthdate: between 1470 and 1475

Birth Place: Würzburg, Germany

Death Date: 1532

Matthias Grünewald (c. 1470 – 31 August 1528) was a German Renaissance painter of

religious works who ignored Renaissance classicism to continue the style of late medieval Central
European art into the 16th century. His first name is also given as Mathis and his surname as
Gothart or Neithardt. Only ten paintings—several consisting of many panels—and thirty-five
drawings survive, all religious, although many others were lost at sea in the Baltic on their way to
Sweden as war booty. His reputation was obscured until the late nineteenth century, and many of
his paintings were attributed to Albrecht Dürer, who is now seen as his stylistic antithesis. His
largest and most famous work is the Isenheim Altarpiece created c 1512 to 1516.

The Protestant theologian Philipp Melanchthon is one of the few contemporary writers to refer to
Grünewald, who is rather puzzlingly described as "moderate" in style, when compared with Dürer
and Cranach; what paintings this judgement is based on is uncertain. By the end of the century,
when the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolph II, embarked on his quest to secure as many Dürer
paintings as possible, the Isenheim Altarpiece was already generally believed to be a Dürer.

In the late 19th century he was rediscovered, and became something of a cult figure, with the
angst-laden expressionism—and absence of any direct classicism—of the Isenheim Altarpiece
appealing to both German Nationalists and Modernists. Joris-Karl Huysmans promoted his art
enthusiastically in both novels and journalism, rather as Proust did that of Vermeer. His apparent
sympathies with the peasants in the Peasants' War also brought him admiration from the political
left.

The composer Paul Hindemith based his 1938 opera Mathis der Maler on the life of Grünewald
during the German Peasants' War; scene Six includes a partial re-enactment of some scenes from
the Isenheim Altarpiece.

Title:
The crucifixion of christ, 1515

Artist:
Matthias Broegel

The details of his life are unusually unclear for a painter of his significance at this date, despite the
fact that his commissions show that he had reasonable recognition in his own lifetime. The first
source for his biography is the German art historian Joachim von Sandrart, who describes him
around 1505 working on the exterior decoration of an altarpiece by Albrecht Dürer in Frankfurt.
This is the sort of work typically performed by apprentices and therefore an estimate of his age can
be reached, suggesting he was born in 1475.[1] Sandrart records that Grünewald had as an
apprentice the painter Hans Grimmer, who became famous in his time, but most of whose works
were lost in the Thirty Years' War.[2] Sandrart describes Grünewald as leading a withdrawn and
melancholy life, and marrying unhappily.[3]
More recent investigations have provided further information on Grünewald's life. In 1511 he
became court artist of Uriel von Gemmingen, Archbishop of Mainz, and he also worked for the next
archbishop, Albert of Brandenburg. In 1512 he settled in nearby Frankfurt where records indicate
he bought a house and married Anna, a converted Jew, then probably aged 18. The marriage was
not happy and in 1523 she was institutionalised with what is variously described as mental illness
and demonic possession.[4]
From 1512 to 1514 or 1515 he worked on the Isenheim altarpiece, apparently in partnership with
another Mathis, variously surnamed Nithart, Neithart, von Würzburg (after his place of birth), or
Gothardt. Grünewald seems to have left Isenheim in a hurry, returning to Frankfurt, and his
subsequent poverty suggests he was not fully paid for the altarpiece. In 1527 he entered the
services of the wealthy and noble von Erbach family, apparently with a child (whether his own or
adopted, is unclear). He most probably died in 1532, although sources vary.[5]
There has been considerable uncertainty about the details of his life. In 1938 Walter Karl Zülch
published the theory that Grünewald and his partner Nithart/Gothardt were the same person; this
Nithart/Gothardt was a painter, engineer, and "water artist" born in Würzburg in the 1460s or
maybe 1470s and probably dying in 1528. This theory is now generally discredited, although more
recent historians believe Nithart/Gothardt may have pretended to be Grünewald for business
reasons.[6]
Matthias Grünewald (originally named Mathis Gohardt) is widely acclaimed as the greatest
German Renaissance artist, whose religious paintings and drawings are known for their visionary
expressiveness of intense color and agitated line.