Altarpiece with Five Saints, carved, painted and gilded limewood (figures), gilded and painted pinewood (back panel), Thuringia (Erfurt or Mühlhausen?), ca. 1520

This shrine or corpus of what originally must have been a winged altarpiece depicts in the centre St Ottilia flanked by St Boniface and St Philip on the left and St James the Less and St Wolfgang on the right, all identified by inscriptions on their bases and haloes.
The frame of the rectangular corpus is made of limewood with modern red overpaint and stencilled flowers; the back panel consists of five planks of pine joined together. Several elements of the line of tracery running along the upper edge are missing. The holes for the two sets of hinges for the wings on either side have been refilled. Two labels have been applied to the back: a large one with the letter "U" and the number "102" and a small one with the number "763".
The front of the back panel has a layer of gilded gesso; pomegranate and stylised floral patterns have been cut into this. The saints' incised and punched haloes are of two types: St Boniface, St Ottilia and St Wolfgang all have a red background (originally silvered), whereas St Philip and St James have an azurite-blue one with red (originally silvered) flames. All the originally silvered areas of the haloes show signs of tooling to accentuate the reflective surface. Two types of punches were used for the lettering. The top of the back panel is covered with brown paint, whereas the incised borders at the bottom were originally silvered. The upper and lower mouldings of the hexagonal bases are gilded; the central elements with black lettering were originally silvered.
The relief figures have suffered from a later misinterpretation of their intended finishes, and above all from the tarnishing of the silvered areas which once dominated the surface, together with gilded elements. The cloaks of all five figures are gilded, and the borders are decorated with incised and punched lines. These are embellished with pins with painted heads to imitate precious stones, and pins with silvered ball-like heads, imitating pearls. The faces are painted naturalistically with red lips, painted eyebrows, eyes and pupils. The hands are a natural flesh colour. Both areas however have been overpainted and thickly glazed. The lettering of the inscriptions on the haloes and the base differ slightly, with the exception of those for St Philip. It is possible that the inscriptions on the haloes were punched by the gilder.
St Boniface wears a dalmatic under a cloak which is adorned with silver leaf as a ground layer, decorated with ornamental details in azurite (now repainted with ultramarine paint which was not available until 1825). The alb, dagger, gloves, and the shaft of the pastoral staff (the lower part missing) were originally silvered, the latter with a gilded head. The gilded vertical and horizontal bands of the mitre are decorated with metal pins with carved heads imitating mounted jewels. The front of the mitre was silvered with an ornamental pattern of azurite; the lappets were silvered with gilded sgraffito ornaments. Inscriptions: Sanct Bonifacius [halo] / S. Bonefacius [base].
St Philip's tau-cross is a later addition. The inner surface of his cloak was silvered, and the border of the robe was silvered with an ornamental pattern of azurite. The bookbag was silvered and glazed in green with gilded bands. Inscriptions: Sanct Filippus [halo] / S. Filippus [base].
St Ottilia's crown is carved separately, some of the crestings have been replaced, and the glass jewels were probably added later. Her wimple is white with black cross-hatching and a gilded border. The inner surface of the mantle is silvered with ornamental patterns in azurite. Several punched metal rosettes have been applied. The gown is white, enhanced with circular silver spots and a silvered belt. The book the saint is carrying is silvered with gilded bands and clasp, and two naturalistic painted eyes sit on on the cover. The kneeling crowned figure at the saint's left side, her father Athrich, wears a gilded mantle with silvered fur. Inscriptions: Sanct Ottilie [halo] / S. Ottilye[base].
The inner surface of St James the Less' mantle was silvered, as was the hatter's bow (a tool for clothmakers which was an attribute of the Apostle in the fifteenth and sixteenth century) and the book, the latter with a green glaze and gilded bands on the cover. The robe is gilded and shows a similar border decoration to the robe of St. Philip. Inscriptions: Sanct Iacobus [halo] / S.Iacop [base].
The mitre, the pastoral staff, the gloves and the alb worn by St Wolfgang are similar to those elements on the figure of St Boniface. The dalmatic, however, is gilded with ornamental flowers cut in gesso and the inner surface of the mantle is silvered with gilded sgraffito ornament in azurite. The model of the church is white, with black lines indicating the masonry of the wall. The roof and the spires are silvered and covered with a red glaze. Inscriptions: Sanct Wolfgangus [halo] / S.Wolfganc [base].

Given by Colonel the Hon. James Jacob Astor.

Given by Colonel the Hon. James Jacob Astor.
When the panel was acquired in 1945, it was described as "Swabian, about 1500" but in 1953, the art historian Gert von der Osten suggested an origin in Lower Saxony, probably in Göttingen, Northeim or Einbeck (Departmental Records). Later, in 1957, he tentatively ascribed the piece to the scultpor Bartel Kastrop, who was active in Göttingen in about 1490 to 1520 (Osten 1957, p. 105).
Although the figures in Kastrop's oeuvre exhibit a similar drapery, the five figures in London differ markedly. They are not as bulky as Kastrop's sculptures, but present flattened bodies covered with extensively polychromed drapery. The neckless heads in London almost appear to be set as separate elements onto the bodies. These characteristic features can also be found in a group of altarpieces that may have been produced in a workshop situated in the region between Erfurt, Eisenach and Mühlhausen (Jopek 2002, pp. 47-48). Interestingly, no example of this group has yet been found further south than Erfurt, as this area seems to have been supplied with altarpieces from the dynamic workshops in Saalfeld or Arnstadt.
The workshop which catered to the Northern regions of Thuringia was probably located in Erfurt or in Mühlhausen and was still under the influence of Riemenschneider and his pupils. The altarpiece production of this workshop seems to have been highly standardised. The central panel would often show the scene of the Coronation of the Virgin, flanked by saints, while the inner wings would be decorated with a series of three apostle figures in the upper and lower register, while the outer wings were painted (Jopek 2002, p. 48).
However, as the present altarpiece shows, the production was not restricted to only one type. The present panels shows five figures which are all approximately the same height, so that the central figure does not dominate in the same way as was customary. The beginning of this local type may be represented by the altarpiece from Allendorf, now in the museum in Eisenach, which was produced in an Erfurt workshop in about 1420. An altarpiece in Greussen, near Sondershausen, of about 1520, contains three figures of saints in the central body, similar in height, while the wings depict painted saints on the right panel and on the left St Anne with Christ and the Virgin. The present piece must have followed an analogous scheme with painted wings which are now lost. They are likely to have been removed and sold separately.
Further evidence for an original location in a church in Thuringia is given by the presence of St Ottilia, St Boniface and St Philip which were all venerated in the region. St James the Less was the patron of clothmakers and woospinners, industries which flourished in about 1500 in Erfurt and several other cities in Thuringia.

This panel formed the central part of a winged altarpiece.

This panel once formed the central part of a winged altarpiece. It shows St Ottilia in the centre, flanked by St. Boniface and St. Philip on the left and St. James the Less and St Wolfgang on the right. All figures can be identified by inscriptions on their bases and haloes. The presence of these specific saints, closely related to local religious practices and industries, and thestyle of the carvings suggest that the altarpiece may originate from Thuringia, a region in modern-day Germany.

A.19-1945