Crucifixion

No other work in the collection compels the viewer as stirringly to empathise with the Passion of Christ as the two sides of Matthias Grünewald's (1475/80-1528) Tauberbischofsheim Altar. He created this, his last monumental work, around 1523/24. The late medieval postulates of "compassio" and "imitatio" are at the foundation of this work. On the one hand, it stands in the tradition of 13th and 14th century mystic piety, while on the other hand marking an epochal transformation in representational means, a climax of German art after 1500.

On the here shown more prominent front of the panel, Grünewald reduced the array of figures to a minimum, while raising the bodily presence and the expressiveness of the figures, especially of the crucified Christ, to extreme heights. Only the mother Mary and favourite apostle John mourn this dead Christ.

They stand lonely, praying, one in internalized, the other in desperate anguish in the darkness, which has fallen with the agonising death of Christ. The body of the Son of God, littered with bloody wounds, has taken on a pale green colour and hangs heavily on the cross. His fingers are painfully spread, arms dislocated, feet swollen, his loincloth hangs in shreds around his hips, the crown of thorns has slipped deep into his visage. Here, the faithful are not confronted with a victoriously triumphant, quasi-enraptured Christ overcoming death, but rather a highly human Son of God, who has died an agonizing death. The believer should be close to him in worship and prayer, finally following his example in life.