Altarpiece (fragments) DetailMuseo Diocesano Tridentino
No active carving workshops are attested in Trento in the 15th century: consequently, wooden altars were imported from the north or from the Padano-Venetian area.
Winged altarpiece (1520/1520) by Circle of Jörg LedererMuseo Diocesano Tridentino
For this reason, the forms of the polyptych and the retable with movable doors developed without mutual influences, following parallel and independent modes of expression.
The main workshops operating in the north were located mainly in the centers of Bolzano, Brixen. They were approached by priests, nobles, and merchants living in the city or in the valleys, eager to equip churches with the typical altars of their tradition, the Flügelaltäre.
Winged altarpiece with the Coronation of the Virgin (1497/1497) by Narciso da BolzanoMuseo Diocesano Tridentino
The Flügelaltar, or ante retable, is a polyptych with a central casket containing a statue or sculptural group and enclosed by movable doors.
Lamentation over the dead body of Christ (1456/1459) by Workshop of Hans MultscherMuseo Diocesano Tridentino
The Tyrolean sojourns of two undisputed protagonists of German Gothic art, Hans von Judenburg and Hans Multscher, had a decisive impact on the training of local craftsmen.
Winged altarpiece (1480/1482) by Hans Harder’s CircleMuseo Diocesano Tridentino
Among these stand out the names of "Master Narcissus," the most important sculptor active in Bolzano at the end of the 15th century, and Hans Klocker, his competitor from Brissin.
Saint Elisabeth (?) (1510-1520 circa) by Swabian WorkshopMuseo Diocesano Tridentino
The first decades of the sixteenth century witnessed, toward the Lombard plain, the gradual establishment of wooden carving workshops from Brescia. The best known are those led by Stefano Lamberti and the brothers Maffeo and Andrea Olivieri.
Winged altarpiece whit Saint Laurence and Saint Barbara (1520/1530) by Trentino workshopMuseo Diocesano Tridentino
Popularizers of the modern Lombard Renaissance style, the Olivieri worked as carvers, plasticists and bronze workers within a highly versatile atelier, able to supply major patrons of the time with works of all sizes and suitable for a wide variety of uses.
To meet the demands of the promising Trentino market, the two brothers established a second location for their workshop in the village of Mondrone (present-day Preore) even before 1515, operating there until at least 1520.
