The Naumburg Master

The earliest traces of the Naumburg Master lead to France, where he probably spent his apprenticeship years in the 1220s at the construction sites of the new Gothic cathedrals. Independent works could be identified in Coucy, Metz and Noyon, among others. From Mainz, his path led him to Naumburg, where he and his work crew erected the west choir and the west rood screen in the comparatively short time of perhaps only seven years, creating one of the most fascinating architectural and sculptural programs of the Gothic period.

The Naumburg master's signature is characterized by technically brilliant solutions in the combination of functional architecture and sculpture, as well as an unusually high demand for closeness to nature in the depiction of plants and figures for the Middle Ages. The precise study of nature for the production of the numerous plant capitals and the individual, even portrait-like design of the donor figures appear like an early prologue to the Renaissance, which took hold in Germany over 250 years later.

The west fountain, whose large elaborate portal is the only access to the west choir, was built after the latter was completed. Although from a formal point of view it is only a wall, its architecture captivates with an ingenious construction plan and a remarkable depth and richness of articulation. While the plane of the portal proper is occupied by a Crucifixion scene, in the pediment above it, in a large quatrefoil, there is a painting of a so-called Majestas Domini, in which Christ is depicted seated on a throne as the Judge of the World on the Last Day. The eastern side of the rood screen is decorated with a relief of the Passion.

The various scenes were each carved out of a large block of shell limestone over 30 centimeters deep and painted in several colors. The artistic design of the iconography of the Naumburg Westlettner is unique in this form. The disposition and direction of action of the figures are oriented entirely towards the view from below, i.e. the viewer in the nave. The now reconstructed 13th century colored version, of which considerable remains have been preserved, accentuated the sometimes expressive sculptural elaboration of the individual figures. However, not only the figures themselves were painted, but also the frame architecture and the numerous plant capitals. The latter show an astonishing variety of more than 30 botanically precisely identifiable species in partly different growth phases.

Mary, the mother of God, and John, the favorite disciple, who witness the crucifixion, also address the approaching viewer with their faces contorted in pain and their body language marked by grief, wanting to direct him with expressive force to the sacrificial death of the Savior that is about to occur. Christ himself is captured at the moment of his death, his eyes just a little open, while above him the two angels waving incense already point to the imminent miracle of the resurrection and ascension.

The dramatic scene, originally heightened in its expressiveness by a splendid use of color, must have deeply shaken the people of the 13th century emotionally and in their religious experience. For Christ no longer appears here as a raptured or at least distant redeemer, but still entirely as a sacrificed Son of Man. Especially in the depiction of the crucified with its accentuated pleasing body proportions, the pleasure in the study of nature, so unexpected for the High Middle Ages, once again becomes apparent, which distinguishes the Naumburg Master and his workshop as unique.