.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The present wood reliefs compare very closely to the figure of Christ on a donkey originally from the Church of the Assumption of Mary in Caldaro, South Tyrol, and today in the Museo Civico, Bolzano. In 1498, Hans Klocker was paid for the creation of the high altar of the same church, now dismembered, together with this Palmesel depicting Christ’s re-entry into Jerusalem. The head of Christ from the Palmesel, with its restrained gesture, sharp-edged and hard facial features echoes those of the present reliefs, particularly figures of two of the Magi facing Christ and the two flanking male figures in the Circumcision relief.
Hans Klocker was first mentioned in a letter of recommendation from the Bishop of Brixen in 1482 as ‘our faithful master Hanns Klöckl, sculptor…highly renowned for the faithfulness and artistry of his work’. Contracts and receipts tell us that the retable at St Leonard in Passeier is his work, as is the high altar at Caldaro and the Franciscan altar at Bolzano, dated to 1500. His surviving output shows that Klocker was one of the finest sculptors working in wood at this period, with an extraordinarily precise and distinctive carving style.
The relief of the Adoration of the Magi is based on an engraving of 1475 by Martin Schongauer. Klocker developed many of his figures after pattern engravings by Schongauer, as did countless other artists of his time.
Hans Klocker was first mentioned in a letter of recommendation from the Bishop of Brixen in 1482 as ‘our faithful master Hanns Klöckl, sculptor…highly renowned for the faithfulness and artistry of his work’. Contracts and receipts tell us that the retable at St Leonard in Passeier is his work, as is the high altar at Caldaro and the Franciscan altar at Bolzano, dated to 1500. His surviving output shows that Klocker was one of the finest sculptors working in wood at this period, with an extraordinarily precise and distinctive carving style.
The relief of the Adoration of the Magi is based on an engraving of 1475 by Martin Schongauer. Klocker developed many of his figures after pattern engravings by Schongauer, as did countless other artists of his time.