Nuremberg (Germany) -- Description and travel; Nuremberg (Germany) -- History
The two-winged Haller Altar-piece (N. near the Anschreibethüre) may very
likely be an early work of the Master of the High Altar-piece in the
Frauenkirche. The background is of gold: the subject is Christ on the
Cross between Mary and John; on the wings, the Mount of Olives and SS.
Catherine and Barbara.
In this picture the cramping of the figures and the crude drawing of the
hands and feet are noticeable, but in the modelling of the heads there
is much that is very noble and very beautiful.
On the pillar next to (S.) the Haller Altar is a relief, "Carrying the
Cross," by Adam Krafft, 1496.
Later and more vigorous works by the same master are the Last Supper,
Mount of Olives and Betrayal (1501), reliefs 5 feet high by 5 feet broad
on the E. wall of the Choir. The Betrayal is distinctly the best
composed and most telling of the three. The Last Supper, the arrangement
of which is somewhat crowded and confused, has the interest of
exhibiting in the Apostles portraits of some members of the Council. The
Apostle with the goblet is said to be Paul Volkamer (the founder) and he
with the small cap Adam Krafft himself, or, it may be, Veit Stoss, to
whom the sculptures, on the strength of the monogram V.S. on them, are
now usually attributed.
We need not stay long over the Tucher Altar with its ever-burning lamp,
founded by the first baron Tucher, 1326, and its seventeenth-century
altar-piece, or the painting by Joh. Franz Ermel (1663) of the
Resurrection, over the Muffels Altar next the Schauthüre, or the new
pulpit (1859) by Heideloff and Rotermundt. The choir-stalls and the Pix
(N.), with its old sculptures, dating from the second half of the
fourteenth century, are worth examining, as also are the numerous
reliefs on the pillars of the choir. The Crowning of Mary on the first
choir pillar on the north side is attributed to V. Stoss. On a column to
the right of the pulpit hangs a copy of Durer's _Interment of Christ_,
with the armorial bearings of the Holzschuhers, and opposite, beneath a
copy of Rubens' Day of Judgment, is another painting by Durer, little
worthy of him, in which figure the Imhoff family, Willibald Pirkheimer
and the artist himself (on the right).
The Carrying of the Cross (Tucherische Kreuztragung), on the column next
to the Sebaldusgrab, can only doubtfully be attributed to Wolgemut
(1485).
The Madonna and Child on the next column was cast by Peter Vischer's
son.
The great Crucifix, with SS. Mary and John, of the High Altar was
executed by Veit Stoss in 1526, when he was now in his eightieth year.
The head of the Christ is a masterpiece of expression. The lower part of
the High Altar is modern, and was carved by Rotermundt after the designs
of C. Heideloff (1821).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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