Carved Splendour – Wooden carved altarpieces of the late Gothic | NEW!

 The names of artists like Tilman Riemenschneider, Veit Stoss or Michael Pacher stand for some of the most spectacular art works originating in the late Middle Ages. Wooden carved altarpieces, often richly polychromed, displaying vibrant panel paintings on the wings are the apogee of a long-term development of northern European art. The wish to adorn the altar, the liturgical centre of any church, with statues of saints, reliquaries and other works of art is almost as old as the church itself. When priests came around the altar to the front, officiating Mass facing east, the possibility arose to decorate the altar with high-rising retables comprising relic compartments in the predella, carved figures of saints in the shrine and their hagiographies spread out across the wings. Some retables even boasted two sets of movable wings and a pair of immobile side panels allowing for a multitude of different views during the church year. This Lecture Day will follow the development of the winged altarpieces from its humble beginnings around 1300 to the full flowering at the waning of the Middle Ages with magnificent examples in Blaubeuren, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Kraków, Bolzano and St Wolfgang, to name just a few. Towards the end of the 16th century there’s a late revival of this art form as part of the Catholic Counterreformation; we’ll conclude this Lecture Day with a study of these exuberant, over-the-top examples of an art form blossoming for 300 years.

This Lecture is held at the Art Workers' Guild in Queen Square London.

TIMETABLE FOR THE DAY

10.30-11.00 Welcome refreshments

11:00-12:00 – Lecture 1

12:00- 12.45 - Lunch

12:45-13:45 – Lecture 2

13:45-14:15 - Refreshments

14:15-15:15 Lecture 3