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Lot Essay
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
H. Thoma, Hans Leinberger, seine Staat, seine Zeit, seine Werk, Regensburg, 1979.
M. Baxandall, The Limewood Sculptors of Renaissance Germany, New Haven and London, 1980.
J.C. Smith, German Sculpture of the Later Renaissance c. 1500-1580, Princeton, 1994.
M. Woelk, ed., Bildwerke vom 9. bis zum 16. Jahrhundert aus Stein, Holz und Ton im Hessischen Landesmuseum Darmstadt, Berlin, 1999.
St John the Baptist wears his traditional raiment and holds a lamb (evoking Christ as 'Lamb of God') under his left arm. He extends his right hand, which most likely held a cross. This sculpture would have originally been painted in vibrant colours and possibly extensively gilded. The reverse is not as carefully carved, indicating that this piece originally belonged to an altarpiece or group composition and, as such, was not meant to be seen in-the-round.
This unsigned polychrome wood sculpture is stylistically characteristic of the work of the German woodcarver and sculptor Hans Leinberger (fl. 1480-1530). This Bavarian artist was active in the city of Landshut (the seat of the Wittelsbach Duke), where he is documented from 1510 to 1530 (Smith, pp. 51-52). While nothing is known about Leinberger's training, his idiosyncratic style differs from that of leading contemporary woodcarvers such as Tilmann Riemenschneider and Veit Stoss in that it eschews these sculptors' preference for rigid and angular forms in favour of a more fluid, energetic treatment of both drapery and physiognomy. Baxandall has pointed to the work of Danube school painters, such as Albrecht Altdorfer (c.1480-1538), whom Leinberger would have known while working in Regensburg, as potential sources for his stylistic inspiration (op. cit., pp. 26 and 208).
The present sculpture is reminiscent of Leinberger's seated St. James the Greater (c. 1525) in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum in Munich and his Man of Sorrows from Polling (1526-27), now in the Städtisches Museum, Weilheim (Thoma, p. 191). These figures share a common facial type defined by a long, narrow nose, expressive eyebrows and stiff, sharply incised beard. Also, their bodies are enveloped in voluminous draperies with undulating folds that seem to take on a life of their own. The carving of the agnus dei's wool and John the Baptist's raiment may also be compared to Leinberger's treatment of these details in his statue of the Precursor (1511-14) from the altar choir at Moosburg (Thoma, pp. 196-197), who is similarly represented with half open lips, bony cheeks and expressive yet slightly sleepy eyes.
Finally, the Salander statue may be related to yet another wooden sculpture of Saint John the Baptist of unknown authorship, dated to circa 1520 and attributed to an artist stylistically close to Leinberger working in the Middle Rhine (Woelk, pp. 60-61, 449-53, no. 102). Commonalities may be found in the pose, the active drapery that vigorously sweeps across the figure's torso, the naturalistic rendering of the arms and hands, which include distinctly visible veins, and once again, the slightly parted lips, arched brows and deep carving of the beard curls.
H. Thoma, Hans Leinberger, seine Staat, seine Zeit, seine Werk, Regensburg, 1979.
M. Baxandall, The Limewood Sculptors of Renaissance Germany, New Haven and London, 1980.
J.C. Smith, German Sculpture of the Later Renaissance c. 1500-1580, Princeton, 1994.
M. Woelk, ed., Bildwerke vom 9. bis zum 16. Jahrhundert aus Stein, Holz und Ton im Hessischen Landesmuseum Darmstadt, Berlin, 1999.
St John the Baptist wears his traditional raiment and holds a lamb (evoking Christ as 'Lamb of God') under his left arm. He extends his right hand, which most likely held a cross. This sculpture would have originally been painted in vibrant colours and possibly extensively gilded. The reverse is not as carefully carved, indicating that this piece originally belonged to an altarpiece or group composition and, as such, was not meant to be seen in-the-round.
This unsigned polychrome wood sculpture is stylistically characteristic of the work of the German woodcarver and sculptor Hans Leinberger (fl. 1480-1530). This Bavarian artist was active in the city of Landshut (the seat of the Wittelsbach Duke), where he is documented from 1510 to 1530 (Smith, pp. 51-52). While nothing is known about Leinberger's training, his idiosyncratic style differs from that of leading contemporary woodcarvers such as Tilmann Riemenschneider and Veit Stoss in that it eschews these sculptors' preference for rigid and angular forms in favour of a more fluid, energetic treatment of both drapery and physiognomy. Baxandall has pointed to the work of Danube school painters, such as Albrecht Altdorfer (c.1480-1538), whom Leinberger would have known while working in Regensburg, as potential sources for his stylistic inspiration (op. cit., pp. 26 and 208).
The present sculpture is reminiscent of Leinberger's seated St. James the Greater (c. 1525) in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum in Munich and his Man of Sorrows from Polling (1526-27), now in the Städtisches Museum, Weilheim (Thoma, p. 191). These figures share a common facial type defined by a long, narrow nose, expressive eyebrows and stiff, sharply incised beard. Also, their bodies are enveloped in voluminous draperies with undulating folds that seem to take on a life of their own. The carving of the agnus dei's wool and John the Baptist's raiment may also be compared to Leinberger's treatment of these details in his statue of the Precursor (1511-14) from the altar choir at Moosburg (Thoma, pp. 196-197), who is similarly represented with half open lips, bony cheeks and expressive yet slightly sleepy eyes.
Finally, the Salander statue may be related to yet another wooden sculpture of Saint John the Baptist of unknown authorship, dated to circa 1520 and attributed to an artist stylistically close to Leinberger working in the Middle Rhine (Woelk, pp. 60-61, 449-53, no. 102). Commonalities may be found in the pose, the active drapery that vigorously sweeps across the figure's torso, the naturalistic rendering of the arms and hands, which include distinctly visible veins, and once again, the slightly parted lips, arched brows and deep carving of the beard curls.