Panel relief, wing of an alterpiece, pinewood, representing the Annunciation and the Agony in the Garden, Tyrolese (Innsbruck), ca. 1500

The one side represents the Annunciation with the Virgin kneeling before a lectren and holding an open book in her hands. Her head is turned away from the book towards the angel. She wears a long gown and her mantle has slipped from her shoulders and covers her feet in deep anguar folds. The kneeling angel holds a staff and scroll in his left hand, while his right is raised in blessing. He is dressed in a gown under an ample cope, which falls in angular folds over his feet, comparable with the drapery of the mantle of the Virgin. The other side of this panel represents The Agony in the Garden with Christ kneeling on a rocky ground, his hands clasped together in player; a chalice with a small cross in the bowl appears at the top of the rock. Three sleeping Apostles recline in the left foreground; St. Peter lies in the front. The background shows a river in a hilly landscape and trees; a group of approaching soldiers with torches is seen in the middle distance.

Bought from David Kugelmann, Kissingen in Franconia (now Bad Kissingen) in 1872. Said by the vendor to have come from a church in Innsbruck.

This panel relief depicting the Annunciation and the Agony in the Garden at the back, once formed the upper part of a larger rectangular wing attached to the left side of a corpus. The type of wood points to an origin in the Alpine region, and the vendor's statement that it came from a church in Innsbruck seems to be consistent with the stylistic features of sculptures and paintings produced there in around 1500. The facial types and the scheme of the drapery in this panel are closely related to several reliefs in Innsbruck ascribed to an unknown sculptor who cooperated with the workshop of Martin Enzelsberger. The painting on the reverse of the Agony in the Garden is closest in style to the paintings ascribed to Enzelsberger, court painter in Innsbruck (active 1490-1543; court painter 1490-1507)). The painting lacks the quality of Enzelsberger's autograph works, however, and it is likely to be a product of his workshop.

247-1872