Gotha Altarpiece

{{Short description|One of the most important Lutheran altarpieces created }}

{{Infobox artwork

| title = Der Gothaer Tafelaltar

| wikidata =

| image = Tafelaltar_Gotha.JPG

| image_upright =

| alt =

| caption =

| artist = Heinrich Füllmaurer

| year = 1538

| completion_date = 1541

| catalogue =

| medium = Mixed media on fir panel

| movement = German Renaissance

| subject =

| height_metric = 418

| width_metric = 252

| museum = Ducal Museum

| city = Gotha

| owner = Stiftung Schloss Friedenstein, Gotha

}}

The Gotha Altarpiece (or Gotha Table-Altar) is a Lutheran winged altarpiece created between 1538 and 1541 {{Cite web|title= The Gotha Table Altar: A Monumental Picture Book of the Reformation Period (in German)|url= https://www.stiftung-friedenstein.de/en/ausstellungen-und-veranstaltungen/der-gothaer-tafelaltar-ein-monumentales-bilderbuch-der|access-date=2023-10-03}} in the Renaissance style by German artist Heinrich Füllmaurer who was religiously advised by the Lutheran theologian Kaspar Gräter. It is considered one of the most important artworks of the Reformation period.

History and description

The Gotha Altarpiece consists of 162 individual panels on 14 folded wings, which makes it the most extensive panel work of German panel painting art.{{Cite web|title= Brief history of Gotha Table-altar|url= https://www.ernst-von-siemens-kunststiftung.de/objekt/gothaer-tafelaltar-1539-1541.html|access-date=2023-10-03}} The polyptych consists of a central section, two fixed wings and fourteen movable wings, which allow a total of five display sides depicting scenes from the life of Jesus Christ along with three scenes from the story of the 'Creation', described in words and illustrations in 157 paintings, which contain around 290 individual scenes. Above each individual scene, there is a cartouche containing rhyming verses on the frame strips, with the corresponding excerpts based on the Luther Bible and Lutheran Gospel harmony by Jacob Beringer published in 1526. The Gotha Altarpiece is therefore a comprehensive representation of Protestant theology and christology, based on the Lutheran teachings and beliefs. The winged altar has been located in Friedenstein Palace in Gotha since the middle of the 17th century. After the World War II, the altarpiece was taken to the Soviet Union to be brought back to Gotha in 1957, although the fixed wing is still in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow.{{Cite web|title= Lost wings of Gotha altarpiece|url= https://www.lostart.de/en/lost/object/two-altar-wings-so-called-gotha-altarpiece/110022|access-date=2023-10-03}}

References

External links

[https://www.stiftung-friedenstein.de/ausstellungen-und-veranstaltungen/der-gothaer-tafelaltar-kommt-zuruck-prasentation-und-sonderoffnung/ Official website of Friedenstein Palace]

Category:1541 paintings

Category:Christian paintings

Category:German Renaissance paintings

Category:Paintings in the Ducal Museum Gotha

Category:Reformation in Germany

Category:Altarpieces

Category:Lutheran art

Category:Paintings of Adam and Eve

Category:Paintings of the Visitation

Category:Paintings of the Flight into Egypt

Category:Paintings of the Presentation of Christ at the Temple

Category:Paintings of the Circumcision of Christ