Late Medieval Art. HamburgReview by: Mark L. EvansThe Burlington Magazine, Vol. 142, No. 1165 (Apr., 2000), pp. 254-256Published by: The Burlington Magazine Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/888751 .Accessed: 28/02/2012 00:34

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

The Burlington Magazine Publications Ltd. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend accessto The Burlington Magazine.

http://www.jstor.org

EXHIBITION REVIEWS EXHIBITION REVIEWS

the quite distinct political and cultural ethos of Cracow, a former Polish capital but from 1772 the second city in the Austrian province of Galicia.

On the other hand, the organisers of the Paris show have perversely foregone a superb chance to illustrate a rare but important instance of Malczewski's response to contemporary French painting. In their rather cursory treatment of the early 1890s they omit one of the most accomplished pictures from this important formative phase in a gradual transition from Realism to Symbolism, an unusually direct treatment of the 1863-64 Uprising, After the harvest (1892). This picture (which is in the Muzeum G6ornoltskie, Bytom and which it would surely have been possible to borrow) is in large part an inspired reworking of Edouard Detaille's Franco-Prussian War subject The dream (1888), a widely reproduced 'cult pic- ture' of the late nineteenth century now on permanent exhibition at the Musee d'Orsay.5

Lastly, it would seem to be as often by accident as by design that the Paris retro- spective poses timely questions concern- ing the assessment of particular works. The turbulent, crowded commemorative com- position of 1894, Melancholia (one of the most provocatively political images to represent Austria-Hungary at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900, and still Malczewski's only internationally familiar painting), is granted an ostensibly 'dominant' position in the second section of the display; yet the far greater visual appeal of the portraits and self-portraits placed nearby effectively side- lines a work about which objective com- mentators have now begun to express their reservations.6

ELIZABETH CLEGG

'An extended version of the exhibition will be present- ed at the Muzeum Narodowe, Warsaw, from 2nd June to 30thJuly. 2Running parallel with the first weeks of the Paris showing was the display of a small selection of Malcz- ewski drawings and oil sketches from the collection of the Muzeum Narodowe, Poznari, at the Institut Cul- turel Polonais (closed 2nd March), with an intelli- gently argued catalogue essay attentive to connexions with some of the exhibited paintings: Jacek Malczewski: Dessins et esquisses a l'huile du Musee National de Poznan. Edited by Grazyna Kubiak. 32 pp. incl. 4 col. pls. + 33 b. & w. ills. (Institut Polonais de Paris, 2000), FF30. No ISBN. 37acek Malczewski (1854-1929). Edited by Henri Loy- rette and Elzbieta Charaziliska, with essays and cata- logue entries by Elibieta Charazifiska and Agnieszka Lawniczakowa. 176 pp. incl. 68 col. pls. + 21 b. & w. ills. (Reunion des Mus6es Nationaux, Paris, 2000), FF190. ISBN 2-7118-4008-5. 4Malczewski: A Vision of Poland, Barbican Art Gallery, London [1990]. ISBN 0-946372-19-5. 5The connexion between Malczewski's picture and the work of Detaille (primarily as a panorama painter in collaboration with Alphonse de Neuville) was first observed and analysed in E. CLEGG: 'Faux terrain: Dis- continuous space in the early work ofJacek Malcz- ewski', Zeitschrift fir Kunstgeschichte, LIV/2 [1990],

the quite distinct political and cultural ethos of Cracow, a former Polish capital but from 1772 the second city in the Austrian province of Galicia.

On the other hand, the organisers of the Paris show have perversely foregone a superb chance to illustrate a rare but important instance of Malczewski's response to contemporary French painting. In their rather cursory treatment of the early 1890s they omit one of the most accomplished pictures from this important formative phase in a gradual transition from Realism to Symbolism, an unusually direct treatment of the 1863-64 Uprising, After the harvest (1892). This picture (which is in the Muzeum G6ornoltskie, Bytom and which it would surely have been possible to borrow) is in large part an inspired reworking of Edouard Detaille's Franco-Prussian War subject The dream (1888), a widely reproduced 'cult pic- ture' of the late nineteenth century now on permanent exhibition at the Musee d'Orsay.5

Lastly, it would seem to be as often by accident as by design that the Paris retro- spective poses timely questions concern- ing the assessment of particular works. The turbulent, crowded commemorative com- position of 1894, Melancholia (one of the most provocatively political images to represent Austria-Hungary at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900, and still Malczewski's only internationally familiar painting), is granted an ostensibly 'dominant' position in the second section of the display; yet the far greater visual appeal of the portraits and self-portraits placed nearby effectively side- lines a work about which objective com- mentators have now begun to express their reservations.6

ELIZABETH CLEGG

'An extended version of the exhibition will be present- ed at the Muzeum Narodowe, Warsaw, from 2nd June to 30thJuly. 2Running parallel with the first weeks of the Paris showing was the display of a small selection of Malcz- ewski drawings and oil sketches from the collection of the Muzeum Narodowe, Poznari, at the Institut Cul- turel Polonais (closed 2nd March), with an intelli- gently argued catalogue essay attentive to connexions with some of the exhibited paintings: Jacek Malczewski: Dessins et esquisses a l'huile du Musee National de Poznan. Edited by Grazyna Kubiak. 32 pp. incl. 4 col. pls. + 33 b. & w. ills. (Institut Polonais de Paris, 2000), FF30. No ISBN. 37acek Malczewski (1854-1929). Edited by Henri Loy- rette and Elzbieta Charaziliska, with essays and cata- logue entries by Elibieta Charazifiska and Agnieszka Lawniczakowa. 176 pp. incl. 68 col. pls. + 21 b. & w. ills. (Reunion des Mus6es Nationaux, Paris, 2000), FF190. ISBN 2-7118-4008-5. 4Malczewski: A Vision of Poland, Barbican Art Gallery, London [1990]. ISBN 0-946372-19-5. 5The connexion between Malczewski's picture and the work of Detaille (primarily as a panorama painter in collaboration with Alphonse de Neuville) was first observed and analysed in E. CLEGG: 'Faux terrain: Dis- continuous space in the early work ofJacek Malcz- ewski', Zeitschrift fir Kunstgeschichte, LIV/2 [1990], pp.250-60. 6Melancholia would have had far more impact as an addition to the current London and New York survey 1900: Art at the Crossroads, where Robert Rosenblum's catalogue essay appositely observes its curious alliance of imaginative ambition and aesthetic provincialism; see R. ROSENBLUM: 'Art in 1900: Twilight or Dawn?', in 1900: Art at the Crossroads, exh. cat. (Royal Academy, London, and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York), London [2000], pp.35-36.

pp.250-60. 6Melancholia would have had far more impact as an addition to the current London and New York survey 1900: Art at the Crossroads, where Robert Rosenblum's catalogue essay appositely observes its curious alliance of imaginative ambition and aesthetic provincialism; see R. ROSENBLUM: 'Art in 1900: Twilight or Dawn?', in 1900: Art at the Crossroads, exh. cat. (Royal Academy, London, and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York), London [2000], pp.35-36.

Hamburg Late medieval art

Given Hamburg's close associations with Warburg and Panofsky, it is surprising that the exhibition Goldgrund und Himmelslicht: Die Kunst des Mittelalters in Hamburg (closed 5th March) was the first major exhibition on medieval art to be held in the Hamburger Kunsthalle.' While the pre-Reformation character of its sister Hanse cities of Liibeck, Bremen and even Gdansk, survived devas- tating war damage, that of Hamburg was effectively erased by fire and civic improve- ments during the nineteenth century.

The first exhibit one encountered, the bronze Calvagy from the graveyard of the church of St George (cat. no.24) was located in the centre of the ground floor vestibule of the Kunsthalle, where large picture windows evoked its originally outdoor location. Al- though attributed to a Hamburg or Lubeck workshop of around 1500, the group has clear affiliations with earlier Netherland- ish paintings and sculpture. Thence, one ascended the double staircase to the circular domed hall which was dominated by two huge altar-pieces constituting the principal exhibits in the show: Master Bertram's high altar-piece from St Petri of 1379-83 (no.l) and Absolon Stumme's high altar-piece from Hamburg Cathedral of 1499 (Fig.67). Ironically, both owe their survival from the 1842 city fire to earlier neglect. Bertram's altar-piece was consigned in 1731 to the church of Grabow in Mecklenburg, where it remained until its purchase in 1903 by the Kunsthalle. In 1804 the painted shutters of the Cathedral altar-piece were acquired by the drawing master Friedrich Waagen, whose sons (one of whom was Gustav Waagen) gave them to the King of Prussia for display in the Marienburg (now Mal- bork, Poland). Having survived the siege of the castle in 1945, they were taken to Warsaw and displayed at L6dz, but recently returned to Hamburg, for the first time in nearly two centuries, for conservation. It is to be hoped that they will be able to remain in their city of origin.

To one side of the central hall were assembled fragments principally associated with Hamburg Cathedral, demolished in 1806. The finest of these is the Foolish virgin ofc. 1300 from the rood loft (no.7), probably inspired by a cycle at Magdeburg, and it- self a likely source for the celebrated late fourteenth-century figures in Lubeck. The theme of the wise and foolish virgins also appears in the small bust-length roundel figures from the top edge of the central shrine of the St Petri altar-piece. An adjacent display of ars sacra was dominated by the eleventh-century evangelary from Ham- burg Cathedral (no.47), its cover decor- ated with a fifth-century Byzantine ivory of Victoria subduing barbarians, and the Eppendorfer

Hamburg Late medieval art

Given Hamburg's close associations with Warburg and Panofsky, it is surprising that the exhibition Goldgrund und Himmelslicht: Die Kunst des Mittelalters in Hamburg (closed 5th March) was the first major exhibition on medieval art to be held in the Hamburger Kunsthalle.' While the pre-Reformation character of its sister Hanse cities of Liibeck, Bremen and even Gdansk, survived devas- tating war damage, that of Hamburg was effectively erased by fire and civic improve- ments during the nineteenth century.

The first exhibit one encountered, the bronze Calvagy from the graveyard of the church of St George (cat. no.24) was located in the centre of the ground floor vestibule of the Kunsthalle, where large picture windows evoked its originally outdoor location. Al- though attributed to a Hamburg or Lubeck workshop of around 1500, the group has clear affiliations with earlier Netherland- ish paintings and sculpture. Thence, one ascended the double staircase to the circular domed hall which was dominated by two huge altar-pieces constituting the principal exhibits in the show: Master Bertram's high altar-piece from St Petri of 1379-83 (no.l) and Absolon Stumme's high altar-piece from Hamburg Cathedral of 1499 (Fig.67). Ironically, both owe their survival from the 1842 city fire to earlier neglect. Bertram's altar-piece was consigned in 1731 to the church of Grabow in Mecklenburg, where it remained until its purchase in 1903 by the Kunsthalle. In 1804 the painted shutters of the Cathedral altar-piece were acquired by the drawing master Friedrich Waagen, whose sons (one of whom was Gustav Waagen) gave them to the King of Prussia for display in the Marienburg (now Mal- bork, Poland). Having survived the siege of the castle in 1945, they were taken to Warsaw and displayed at L6dz, but recently returned to Hamburg, for the first time in nearly two centuries, for conservation. It is to be hoped that they will be able to remain in their city of origin.

To one side of the central hall were assembled fragments principally associated with Hamburg Cathedral, demolished in 1806. The finest of these is the Foolish virgin ofc. 1300 from the rood loft (no.7), probably inspired by a cycle at Magdeburg, and it- self a likely source for the celebrated late fourteenth-century figures in Lubeck. The theme of the wise and foolish virgins also appears in the small bust-length roundel figures from the top edge of the central shrine of the St Petri altar-piece. An adjacent display of ars sacra was dominated by the eleventh-century evangelary from Ham- burg Cathedral (no.47), its cover decor- ated with a fifth-century Byzantine ivory of Victoria subduing barbarians, and the Eppendorfer Alraune (no.90). The latter, a cabbage stalk resembling the crucified Christ believed to have grown from a host planted in the earth, was revered by the Cistercian nuns of Har- vestehude during the fifteenth century and was subsequently acquired by the Emperor Rudolph II for the Imperial Schatzkammer. Subsequent galleries marshalled an impres- sive display of manuscripts and documents

Alraune (no.90). The latter, a cabbage stalk resembling the crucified Christ believed to have grown from a host planted in the earth, was revered by the Cistercian nuns of Har- vestehude during the fifteenth century and was subsequently acquired by the Emperor Rudolph II for the Imperial Schatzkammer. Subsequent galleries marshalled an impres- sive display of manuscripts and documents

66. Buxtehude altar-piece (detail), by Master Bertram of Minden. c. 1400. (Hamburger Kunsthalle). 66. Buxtehude altar-piece (detail), by Master Bertram of Minden. c. 1400. (Hamburger Kunsthalle).

with a Hamburg provenance, from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries (nos.48-81).

The principal artistic personality of the exhibition was Master Bertram of Minden, documented as a member of the Hamburg painter's guild from 1376, and identified in the Hamburger Chronik in 1383 as the maker of the St Petri altar-piece, the sculp- tural shrine of which was finished by 1379. Around Bertram's masterpiece and his Buxtehude altar-piece of c.1400 (no.4; Fig.66), both of which form part of the permanent collection of the Kunsthalle, were assembled six panels of the Life of Christ, from Paris (no.2), the diminutive Vera Icon triptych from the Thyssen Collection (no.3) and three leaves from a missal from the Pierpont Morgan Library (no.6). The main absentees from Bertram's oeuvre were the Passion altar-piece from the Landesga- lerie, Hanover, and the Apocalypse altar-piece from the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Although he was born far to the south- west of Hamburg, in the Westphalian bishopric of Minden, Bertram's bulky figure style and acute narrative sense suggest a formative period in the circle of Master Theodoric at Prague during the 1350s or early 1360s. Despite the clear similarity between the Morgan Visitation miniature and the corresponding scene from the St Petri altar-piece, it is hard to believe that the for- mer represents Bertram's earliest known work, to be dated c. 1355-59. The Morgan leaves are more likely to be contemporary with the altar-piece, and close in date to its completion. The narrative richness of the St Petri altar-piece suggests that Bertram's reading extended from the Physiologus Latinus (no.68) to the Commentary on the Apoca- lypse by the Saxon friar Alexander, which inspired the Apocalypse altar-piece in the Victoria and Albert Museum.2 Bertram's will (no.78) indicates that the master visited Rome around 1390 in thanksgiving for surviving an outbreak of the plague. An encounter with the Mandylion in Rome may have in- spired the Thyssen Vera Icon, which stands near the head of a series of German and Netherlandish representations of this subject.

with a Hamburg provenance, from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries (nos.48-81).

The principal artistic personality of the exhibition was Master Bertram of Minden, documented as a member of the Hamburg painter's guild from 1376, and identified in the Hamburger Chronik in 1383 as the maker of the St Petri altar-piece, the sculp- tural shrine of which was finished by 1379. Around Bertram's masterpiece and his Buxtehude altar-piece of c.1400 (no.4; Fig.66), both of which form part of the permanent collection of the Kunsthalle, were assembled six panels of the Life of Christ, from Paris (no.2), the diminutive Vera Icon triptych from the Thyssen Collection (no.3) and three leaves from a missal from the Pierpont Morgan Library (no.6). The main absentees from Bertram's oeuvre were the Passion altar-piece from the Landesga- lerie, Hanover, and the Apocalypse altar-piece from the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Although he was born far to the south- west of Hamburg, in the Westphalian bishopric of Minden, Bertram's bulky figure style and acute narrative sense suggest a formative period in the circle of Master Theodoric at Prague during the 1350s or early 1360s. Despite the clear similarity between the Morgan Visitation miniature and the corresponding scene from the St Petri altar-piece, it is hard to believe that the for- mer represents Bertram's earliest known work, to be dated c. 1355-59. The Morgan leaves are more likely to be contemporary with the altar-piece, and close in date to its completion. The narrative richness of the St Petri altar-piece suggests that Bertram's reading extended from the Physiologus Latinus (no.68) to the Commentary on the Apoca- lypse by the Saxon friar Alexander, which inspired the Apocalypse altar-piece in the Victoria and Albert Museum.2 Bertram's will (no.78) indicates that the master visited Rome around 1390 in thanksgiving for surviving an outbreak of the plague. An encounter with the Mandylion in Rome may have in- spired the Thyssen Vera Icon, which stands near the head of a series of German and Netherlandish representations of this subject.

254 254

EXHIBITION REVIEWS

The Life of Christ shutters from the Bene- dictine monastery of Buxtehude (no.4), a few kilometres south-west of Hamburg, incorpor- ate more elaborate architectural forms and decorative flourishes (see Fig.66) which may indicate the presence of a younger artist, better informed on Franco-Flemish art, dur- ing the final decade before Master Bertram's disappearance from the Hamburg guild records in 1414. His successor as the prin- cipal painter in the city, Master Francke, had just such a history: born on the Lower Rhine, Francke became a priest at the Dominican friary of Zutphen in Guelders and probably studied in Paris, before enter- ing the friary of St John in Hamburg by 1424. He may have been there before 1412, to judge from the dedication date of his earliest known work, the St Barbara altar- piece from Turku Cathedral, now in Hel- sinki (represented at the exhibition byJulius von Ehren's copies of the shutters, painted in 1925). His last documented work was the destroyed Triniy altar-piece for the Dom- inican church of St Catherine in Tallinn, Estonia, erected in 1436. The itinerant friars of the Dominican order and the sea-going merchants of the Hanse constituted Francke's principal clients, their circles coinciding in the case of the Englandfahrer altar-piece of 1424-36 (no.9), which was painted for the chapel the Hamburg merchants trading with England dedicated to St Thomas a Beckett, in his 'home' friary of StJohn (no. 9); fragments of the work were acquired for the Kunsthalle in 1898. One of Francke's last works, the Christ as man of sorrows of c. 1435 (no. 10), also from StJohn's, demon- strates the provenance of his style, formed on the borders of Germany and the Low Countries around the second decade of the fifteenth century, between the St Veronica Master in Cologne, Stephan Lochner in Westphalia and Petrus Christus in Bruges.

The ars nova of Early Netherlandish paint- ing arrived in Hamburg in the person of Hans Bornemann, documented in the city from 1448. Like Lucas Moser in Swabia and Konrad Laib in Salzburg, Bornemann worked in a style ultimately derived from the Van Eycks and the 'Campin/Flemalle Group'. His principal works, the two Passion altar-pieces in the church of St Nicolas in Lineburg (nos. 14 and 15) could not travel to the exhibition, but are included in the catalogue. The miniatures in the Sachsen- spiegel of the Liineburg councillor Brand van Tzerstede from that city's library (no.13), also attributed to Bornemann, are in a more old fashioned 'German' style. Bornemann died in 1474, leaving a son Hinrik, three daughters and a widow, Gherburg. Her subsequent marriages to two painters, Hin- rik Funhof (active 1475; died 1485) and Absolon Stumme (active 1486-1504/7) per- petuated Bornemann's workshop until the early years of the sixteenth century.

Funhofs four panels from the high altar of St John's in Lineburg (no.20; but also not in the exhibition) suggest that he was trained in the circle of Dieric Bouts. Stumme worked in a more provincial style, with faint echoes of the Northern Nether- lands, while his panels of the Flight into Egypt and the Death of the Virgin from Hamburg Cathedral (no.25) derive - rather shakily

67. Detail showing the Tree ofJesse from the altar-piece in Hamburg Cathedral, by Absolon Stumme. 1499. (Nationalmuseum, Warsaw; exh. Hamburger Kunsthalle).

- from Schongauer's engravings of these subjects. Hans Bornemann's son Hinrik (1464/8-99) was active in Lubeck before returning to Hamburg in 1496. He remains an elusive figure, although the complex shadow effects in the shutter of St Luke paint- ing the Virgin from the St Luke altar-piece in the Hamburg church of St James's (no.29; not in the exhibition), completed after his death by his father-in-law Absalon Stumme and Wilm Dedeke, imply a fresh and innov- ative mind. The attribution, proposed in the catalogue, of the Thyssen Portrait of ayoung man (no.30) to the younger Bornemann is unconvincing: the trompe l'wil motif of the fly on the window may be traced back to Petrus Christus, while the use of a limewood sup- port, rather than the oak usual in North Germany, probably indicates a South Ger-

man origin. Following Hinrik Bornemann's early

death, his widow also married another painter; Wilm Dedeke (active 1500-28). The works attributed to Dedeke in the cata- logue (nos.33-38) barely hold together as a group. Some, such as the Passion altar-piece from Buxtehude (no.33; not in the exhibi- tion) and the Passion wings from Munster (no.35) seem the product of an essentially provincial hand, albeit informed by more advanced engravings. Others, including the Crucifixion with the arms of Tile Nigel from St Catherine's (no.34) and the diptych of the Virgin and Child and donors (no.36) suggest experience of recent art from the Northern Netherlands and Antwerp. The Lamentation with roundels of the Passion, also from St Catherine's (no.46), clearly the work of a

255

EXHIBITION REVIEWS EXHIBITION REVIEWS

Flemish or Flemish-trained artist, signifies the final submission of the late medieval Hamburg school to the burgeoning empori- um of Antwerp.

That late-medieval painting in Hamburg was essentially a family affair is demonstrat- ed by the remarkable series of marriages Gherburg Bornemann and her daughter- in-law contracted with painters. This engen- dered a social and commercial continuity comparable with that in contemporary Nuremberg, where Hans Pleydenwurff3s widow married his journeyman Michel Wolgemut, who taught Albrecht Durer. Not- withstanding its narrow base, the Hamburg School eluded provincialism by constantly obtaining renewal from the principal cultur- al centres of northern Europe: Prague in the generation of Master Bertram, Guelders in the time of Master Francke, and the Nether- lands in that of Hans Bornemann and Hin- rik Funhof.

MARK L EVANS Victoria and Albert Museum

'Catalogue: GolHgrund und Himmelslicht:DieXunstdesMi tel- alters in Hamburg. Edited by Uwe M. Schneede. 360pp. incl. 136col.pls.+ numerous col. & b. & w. figs. (Ham- burger Kunsthalle and Dolling und Galitz Verlag, Hamburg, 1999), D M39.ISBN 3-933371 48-O(PB). 2MAX HASSE, in ;Niederdeutsche Beitrage zur Kunstgeschichte, XIX [1980],pp. 125-36, demonstrated the likelihood that the latter comes from the monastery of StJohn in Lubeck, but his proposal that it is stylistically indepen- dent of Master Bertram is less convincing.

Stuttgairt Camille Pissarro

Surprisingly, the exhibition at the Staats- galerie, Stuttgart, on view until 1 st May, is Germany's first retrospective devoted to Camille Pissarro, and includes sixty oil paintings, and thirty drawings, prints and pastels. The show is in two parts, the first a survey of the artist's career, the second an interesting conjunction of works by other impressionists and important precursors of Impressionism, such as Courbet and Corot, some from the museum's own collection, others on loan. The catalogue accompany- ing the show includes essays by its curator, Christoph Becker, a survey of Pissarro's life by WolfEiermann, an essay on the works on paper by the doyenne of impressionist print studies, Barbara Stern Shapiro, and a brief discussion of critics' responses to Pissarro by Ralph Melcher.l The catalogue is available in English as well as in German, and is a handsome publication, liberally illustrated with photographs of Pissarro and his family.

The biographical emphasis of the cata- logue is also marked in the first part of the

Flemish or Flemish-trained artist, signifies the final submission of the late medieval Hamburg school to the burgeoning empori- um of Antwerp.

That late-medieval painting in Hamburg was essentially a family affair is demonstrat- ed by the remarkable series of marriages Gherburg Bornemann and her daughter- in-law contracted with painters. This engen- dered a social and commercial continuity comparable with that in contemporary Nuremberg, where Hans Pleydenwurff3s widow married his journeyman Michel Wolgemut, who taught Albrecht Durer. Not- withstanding its narrow base, the Hamburg School eluded provincialism by constantly obtaining renewal from the principal cultur- al centres of northern Europe: Prague in the generation of Master Bertram, Guelders in the time of Master Francke, and the Nether- lands in that of Hans Bornemann and Hin- rik Funhof.

MARK L EVANS Victoria and Albert Museum

'Catalogue: GolHgrund und Himmelslicht:DieXunstdesMi tel- alters in Hamburg. Edited by Uwe M. Schneede. 360pp. incl. 136col.pls.+ numerous col. & b. & w. figs. (Ham- burger Kunsthalle and Dolling und Galitz Verlag, Hamburg, 1999), D M39.ISBN 3-933371 48-O(PB). 2MAX HASSE, in ;Niederdeutsche Beitrage zur Kunstgeschichte, XIX [1980],pp. 125-36, demonstrated the likelihood that the latter comes from the monastery of StJohn in Lubeck, but his proposal that it is stylistically indepen- dent of Master Bertram is less convincing.

Stuttgairt Camille Pissarro

Surprisingly, the exhibition at the Staats- galerie, Stuttgart, on view until 1 st May, is Germany's first retrospective devoted to Camille Pissarro, and includes sixty oil paintings, and thirty drawings, prints and pastels. The show is in two parts, the first a survey of the artist's career, the second an interesting conjunction of works by other impressionists and important precursors of Impressionism, such as Courbet and Corot, some from the museum's own collection, others on loan. The catalogue accompany- ing the show includes essays by its curator, Christoph Becker, a survey of Pissarro's life by WolfEiermann, an essay on the works on paper by the doyenne of impressionist print studies, Barbara Stern Shapiro, and a brief discussion of critics' responses to Pissarro by Ralph Melcher.l The catalogue is available in English as well as in German, and is a handsome publication, liberally illustrated with photographs of Pissarro and his family.

The biographical emphasis of the cata- logue is also marked in the first part of the exhibition, where the first work on display is the famous 1873 self-portrait from the Musee d'Orsay, showing Pissarro aged forty- three, already every inch the patriarch. The last work is the Tate Gallery's self-portrait, made in the year of his death, a fragile old man still engaging with the urban view out- side his window. Chronologically, the earli- est work in the show (cat. no.2) is a small painting of two women by the sea in Saint-

exhibition, where the first work on display is the famous 1873 self-portrait from the Musee d'Orsay, showing Pissarro aged forty- three, already every inch the patriarch. The last work is the Tate Gallery's self-portrait, made in the year of his death, a fragile old man still engaging with the urban view out- side his window. Chronologically, the earli- est work in the show (cat. no.2) is a small painting of two women by the sea in Saint-

68. Aear Sydenham Hill (looking towards Lower;Norwood), by Camille Pissarro. 1871. 43.6 by 53.8 cm. (Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth; exh. Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart). 68. Aear Sydenham Hill (looking towards Lower;Norwood), by Camille Pissarro. 1871. 43.6 by 53.8 cm. (Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth; exh. Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart).

69. fhe climbingpath, L'Hermitage, Pontoise, by Camille Pissarro. 1875. 54 by 65 cm. (Brooklyn Museum of Art; exh. Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart). 69. fhe climbingpath, L'Hermitage, Pontoise, by Camille Pissarro. 1875. 54 by 65 cm. (Brooklyn Museum of Art; exh. Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart).

Thomas, Pissarro's birthplace, painted not in the then-Danish Virgin Islands but a year after Pissarro returned to Paris to establish himself as an artist, having already spent part of his school years there. The painting is conventional, not particularly distinguish- ed in any way, but certainly suggests that Pissarro was already looking carefully to Corot's example for the organisation of the composition and the disposition of the

Thomas, Pissarro's birthplace, painted not in the then-Danish Virgin Islands but a year after Pissarro returned to Paris to establish himself as an artist, having already spent part of his school years there. The painting is conventional, not particularly distinguish- ed in any way, but certainly suggests that Pissarro was already looking carefully to Corot's example for the organisation of the composition and the disposition of the

figures. The early years of Pissarro's artistic life are thinly represented, as is almost inevitable since many of his paintings from before 1870 were destroyed by Prussian troops during their occupation of his house in Louveciennes, but the confidence and assurance of the Metropolitan's CoAte du jtallaas, Pontoase (no.6) appears as a different kind of image from previous paintings. It is Pissarro's bid for recognition in the Paris

figures. The early years of Pissarro's artistic life are thinly represented, as is almost inevitable since many of his paintings from before 1870 were destroyed by Prussian troops during their occupation of his house in Louveciennes, but the confidence and assurance of the Metropolitan's CoAte du jtallaas, Pontoase (no.6) appears as a different kind of image from previous paintings. It is Pissarro's bid for recognition in the Paris

256 256