Wings of the Wüllersleben Triptych
Artist: Valentin Lendenstreich (German, active 1485-1506)
Date: 1503
Dimensions:
75 x 44 1/2 in. (195 x 113 cm)
Medium: oil on wood panel
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number: 1923.3154A-B
Label Text:Made for the parish church in Wüllersleben, in eastern Germany, these altarpiece wings combine panel painting and painted (polychrome) wood sculpture. The wings originally closed over a center section of polychrome wood figures of female saints flanking the Madonna and Child (see below). These sculptures—along with the male saints against a gold background and the painted panels of the angel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary—were only displayed when the altarpiece was opened. When closed, the painted panels of Christ praying in Gethsemane (the Agony in the Garden) and being tortured before his crucifixion (the Flagellation) were on the exterior. The two prophets at the top would have faced each other when the wings were closed.
The altarpiece was created in the workshop of painter and sculptor Valentin Lendenstreich, who boldly inscribed the exterior panels with his name and the date of the work’s completion.
[Image:] Complete altarpiece, opened. Although the three components of the altarpiece remained together until the early 20th century, the whereabouts of some elements of the central panel is currently unknown.
The altarpiece was created in the workshop of painter and sculptor Valentin Lendenstreich, who boldly inscribed the exterior panels with his name and the date of the work’s completion.
[Image:] Complete altarpiece, opened. Although the three components of the altarpiece remained together until the early 20th century, the whereabouts of some elements of the central panel is currently unknown.
On view
In Collection(s)