Lower Rhinish Master - SOLD
Lower Rhine region
Late gothic, ca. 1500
Anna Selbdritt
Oak, carved in high relief
H. 30 cm. W. 27 cm. D. 10 cm.
Provenance
Private collection, North Germany
Exhibition
Stiftsmuseum Aschaffenburg, on permanent loan between 1959 and 2008
The iconographic type of the Anna Selbdritt was especially popular in Germany and the Netherlands between 1480 and 1520. This increased popularity followed on the extensive promotion of the saint's cult by Netherlandish and Rheinland German humanists, which manifested itself in the founding of confraternities dedicated to Saint Anna and in the production of religious texts. St. Anna's popularity was a result form her supposed power to help souls achieve salvation, a power that she enjoyed thanks to her fleshly relationship with the Redeemer and his Mother.
Apart from its high quality and ecstatic appeal, adding to this group’s significance is the late-Gothic settle on which the figures are seated. This furniture type, adorned with linen-fold panels and sculpted lions, is a miniature replica of the furniture that could be found in 15th century houses. This is in line with the tradition within Early Netherlandish painting (or the ‘Flemish Primitives’) to depict religious scenes in contemporary interiors.
