Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Matthias Grünwald's world-famous Isenheim Altarpiece ranks among the most powerful expressionistic works of the Northern Renaissance. Characterized by great emotional force, exquisite handling of color and brilliantly interwoven subtleties of Christian iconography, the multi-paneled altarpiece has remained the object of intense scholarly interest and the main attraction of the Musée d'Unterlinden in Colmar, France.



Ruth Mellinkoff offers an original analysis of the altarpiece, uncovering the late medieval popular beliefs that underlie its unusual visual content. She places its rich imagery within a tradition of Christian art, and stunningly, discovers Lucifer among the angels observing the Nativity.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Here is a convincing new iconographic reading of Mathias Grunewald's masterpiece, ``The Isenheim Altarpiece,'' commissioned for the Antonite monastery near Colmar, Germany, before 1510. Mellinkoff identifies Satan amid the angels in the nativity scene and deciphers the meaning of other enigmatic details--the chamber pot, the belted bed, the oil cruet--through comparison with late medieval written sources and art works. As she demonstrates, these many details fit into a complex program dramatizing Christian salvation. An essay in book form, the brief text is abundantly illustrated with handsome color and black-and-white reproductions of the multi-part altar and related works. For specialized collections; this study launches a series devoted to examining individual works of art.-- Annette Melville, Research Libraries Group, Mountain View, Cal. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

A new series of "short books on important works of art" is initiated by the author of two important books that dealt primarily with medieval attitudes toward Jews, The Horned Moses in Medieval Art and Thought (CH, Jul '71) and The Mark of Cain (CH, Jun '81). In her discussion of the famous painting by Grunewald, Mellinkoff proposes a unifying theme that focuses on the role of the Devil in the Christian story of salvation. Some of her ideas seem fanciful, but Mellinkoff contributes greatly toward a richer understanding of this masterpiece. Within the restricted format there is a good review of prior scholarship and a generous bibliography. The color reproductions are excellent. Erudite and imaginative, this study is highly recommended to advanced undergraduate and graduate students as a companion to Georg Scheja's The Eisenheim Altarpiece (1971). -J. Howett, Emory University

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Ruth Mellinkoff is Research Associate at the University of California's Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, and she is the author of The Mark of Cain (California, 1981) and The Horned Moses in Medieval Art and Thought (California, 1970).