The Late Gothic Religious Paintings of Hans Multscher
Among the great masters of late medieval German art, Hans Multscher of Ulm holds a curious double identity. He was at once the leading sculptor of the upper Swabian school in the mid-fifteenth century and a painter whose Hans Multscher paintings for the Wurzach Altarpiece are among the most arresting Northern panels of the entire late Gothic age. He stood at the moment when Germany was beginning to absorb the new Flemish realism of Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden, and he carried that influence into the painted wings of the great altarpieces of Swabia.
This article gathers the seven surviving Multscher panels now preserved in Berlin, all of them from the famous Wurzach and Passion cycles that he produced in the 1430s and 1440s.
From Leutkirch to Ulm, the Capital of Swabian Carving
Hans Multscher was born around 1400 in Leutkirch im Allgäu, a small town in the Swabian Allgäu region of southern Germany, the son of an unknown craftsman. By 1427 he was an established master and citizen of Ulm, then one of the great free cities of the Holy Roman Empire and the leading centre of late medieval German wood carving. He set up a large workshop there and ran it for forty years, training the next generation of Ulm carvers and painters.
Multscher is best known today for his sculpture, especially the polychrome wood figures of the Sterzing Altarpiece and the marble Karg Altar at Ulm Minster. But he was also responsible for a major painted altarpiece for the Carthusian house of Buxheim, near Memmingen, and several smaller painted Passion cycles. His painted panels are among the earliest German works to absorb the new Netherlandish realism, and they are unmistakably his own in their dramatic intensity.
The Wurzach Altarpiece
Painted in 1437 for an unknown patron, this altarpiece takes its modern name from the Wolfegg-Waldsee castle of Wurzach in Upper Swabia, where the panels were rediscovered in the nineteenth century. The cycle consisted of eight scenes from the life of the Virgin and the Passion of Christ on its wings. The panels are now divided between the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin and a few smaller collections, with the central sculpted shrine lost.
The Birth of Christ
This Nativity scene shows the Virgin kneeling in adoration before the newborn Christ, with Joseph standing behind her with his lantern. The composition has the patient observation of the new Flemish style, but the architecture and the figures retain the elongated Gothic grace of the upper Rhine.
The Adoration of the Kings
The companion scene to the Birth, this panel shows the three Magi presenting their gifts to the Christ child. The oldest king kneels in the foreground with his crown set on the ground beside him, while the youngest two stand behind in the rich brocades of late medieval German court costume. Multscher paints the Persian and Moorish details of the kings’ garments with the same close attention as the Flemish primitives.
Christ on the Mount of Olives
From the Passion wing of the altarpiece, this panel shows the agony in Gethsemane. Christ kneels in prayer on the rocky hillside while the three disciples Peter, James, and John lie asleep below. An angel descends from the upper sky with the chalice of the Passion. The composition is one of the most psychologically intense of the cycle.
The Resurrection
Christ rises from the open sepulchre while the Roman soldiers fall back in terror around him. The composition is built on a strong vertical with the risen body bathed in golden light against the dark night sky. Multscher paints the figure with the slight elongation of his Gothic training but with the new observed anatomy of the Flemish school.
The Death of Mary
The final panel of the wings shows the death of the Virgin Mary, surrounded by the twelve apostles in her chamber. Christ appears above with the soul of his mother in his arms, in the iconography of the medieval Dormition. The figures of the apostles are individually characterised, with the same close observation that distinguishes all of Multscher’s mature painting.
All five surviving panels of the Wurzach Altarpiece are now at the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, in the rooms of German painting of the thirteenth to sixteenth century.
The Descent of the Holy Spirit
From a separate altarpiece, this panel of Pentecost shows the Virgin and the apostles gathered in the upper room in Jerusalem when the Holy Spirit descended on them in tongues of fire. Multscher paints the moment with the same intensity as his Wurzach panels, with each apostle individually characterised and the small flames hovering above their heads. The composition centres on the Virgin Mary, who is seated calmly in the middle of the group.
The panel is also at the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin.
The Cycle of the Passion
This panel preserves a continuous narrative cycle of the Passion of Christ across a single horizontal composition, in the same tradition that Hans Memling would later develop in Bruges. Multscher’s version is earlier and more archaic in style, with the figures slightly stiffer and the composition more clearly Gothic in its layering of episodes across a panoramic landscape.
The panel is also at the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin.
For more context on the German late Gothic, see our articles on the slightly earlier Stefan Lochner of Cologne, on the Tyrolean master Michael Pacher, on the engraver Martin Schongauer, and on the Swiss Konrad Witz, all of whom worked in the same German-speaking world that nourished Multscher’s Ulm production.
Summary Table of Hans Multscher’s Religious Paintings
| Name | Artist | Date | Medium | Museum |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Birth of Christ (Wurzach Altarpiece) | Hans Multscher | 1437 | Tempera and oil on panel | Gemäldegalerie, Berlin |
| The Adoration of the Kings (Wurzach Altarpiece) | Hans Multscher | 1437 | Tempera and oil on panel | Gemäldegalerie, Berlin |
| Christ on the Mount of Olives (Wurzach Altarpiece) | Hans Multscher | 1437 | Tempera and oil on panel | Gemäldegalerie, Berlin |
| The Resurrection (Wurzach Altarpiece) | Hans Multscher | 1437 | Tempera and oil on panel | Gemäldegalerie, Berlin |
| The Death of Mary (Wurzach Altarpiece) | Hans Multscher | 1437 | Tempera and oil on panel | Gemäldegalerie, Berlin |
| The Descent of the Holy Spirit | Hans Multscher | c. 1437 | Tempera and oil on panel | Gemäldegalerie, Berlin |
| Cycle of the Passion | Hans Multscher | c. 1437 | Tempera and oil on panel | Gemäldegalerie, Berlin |
Conclusion
Multscher’s painted output is small. His sculpture made him famous in his own time, and the painted wings of his altarpieces have always lived in the shadow of his carved figures. But the seven panels gathered at the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin form one of the most concentrated bodies of late Gothic German painting in any museum, and they show how the new Flemish realism reached Ulm in the 1430s and was absorbed by an artist who was also a sculptor of the very highest rank. They are a precious record of a hinge moment in the history of German Catholic art.
Important Facts About Hans Multscher
- Hans Multscher was born around 1400 in Leutkirch im Allgäu, in the Swabian Allgäu region of southern Germany, into a family of unknown background and trained probably in the Bodensee region.
- He is documented in the imperial free city of Ulm from 1427 onward, where he ran a large workshop that produced both sculpture and painting, and where he was responsible for some of the most important Swabian altarpieces of the mid-fifteenth century.
- Multscher is one of the central figures of late Gothic German art, equally celebrated as a sculptor of polychrome wood figures and as a panel painter, and his work shows the first absorption of the new Flemish realism into the Swabian altarpiece tradition.
- His most famous religious work is the Wurzach Altarpiece of 1437, of which five panels survive at the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, painted while he was also working on his great Karg Altar at Ulm Minster.
- He died in March 1467 in Ulm, having served as the head of his workshop for forty years, and the manner he established in painting and sculpture shaped the Swabian altarpiece tradition for the rest of the fifteenth century.
Questions and Answers About Hans Multscher Paintings
What is Hans Multscher’s most famous painting?
His most studied painted work is the cycle of panels from the Wurzach Altarpiece of 1437, all now at the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin. The Christ on the Mount of Olives and the Adoration of the Kings are the two most often reproduced. As a sculptor, he is better known for the Karg Altar at Ulm Minster and the Sterzing Altarpiece in South Tyrol.
Where can I see Hans Multscher paintings today?
All seven of his surviving major painted panels are at the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, in the rooms of German painting of the thirteenth to sixteenth century. His sculpted works are scattered between Ulm Minster, the Sterzing parish church in South Tyrol, the Staatliche Kunsthalle in Karlsruhe, the Skulpturensammlung in Berlin, and the Bavarian National Museum in Munich.
What style is Hans Multscher associated with?
Multscher is the central figure of the Swabian late Gothic and one of the earliest German painters to absorb the new Flemish realism of Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden. His mature style combines the elongated Gothic grace of his Allgäu training with the new observed anatomy and atmospheric distance learned from the Netherlandish primitives.
Was Multscher a sculptor or a painter?
Both, and his fame in his own time rested mainly on his sculpture. He was the leading master of polychrome wood and marble carving in mid-fifteenth century Swabia, and his workshop in Ulm produced major altarpieces for the cathedrals and parish churches of the upper Rhine and South Tyrol. The painted panels of the Wurzach Altarpiece are by his hand or by close workshop assistants under his direction.
What happened to the Wurzach Altarpiece?
The original setting of the altarpiece is not known. The painted wings were rediscovered in the nineteenth century at the castle of Wurzach in Upper Swabia, from which they take their modern name. They were acquired by the Berlin Gemäldegalerie at the end of the nineteenth century, where they have remained ever since. The central sculpted shrine of the altarpiece is lost.
How did Multscher absorb the Flemish style?
The wool and cloth trade between the upper Rhine and Bruges brought Flemish panels and miniatures to Ulm throughout the early fifteenth century. Multscher probably saw imported Netherlandish works in the merchant houses of his city and may also have travelled to the Low Countries, although no document confirms a voyage. His Wurzach panels show a precise knowledge of the new style around 1435 to 1437.
Where can I buy a canvas reproduction of a Hans Multscher painting?
The shop at jesuschrist.pictures offers museum-quality canvas reproductions of the great Christian paintings, and the collection keeps growing; it is the best place to look for a canvas reproduction of a Hans Multscher painting.
