
The Master of Meßkirch (German: Meister von Meßkirch; active c. 1515 - 1540) was an anonymous
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass id ...
painter.
Biography
The so-called Master of Meßkirch is named after the eleven
altarpiece
An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting ...
s (one main altarpiece and ten auxiliary ones) he painted for the St. Martin church in
Meßkirch between 1536 and 1540. His birthplace and apprenticeship are unknown, but he may have studied under an artist from the circle of
Albrecht Dürer, such as
Hans von Kulmbach
Hans Suess, known as Hans von Kulmbach, was a German artist. He was born around 1480 in Kulmbach, Franconia and died prior to 3 December 1522 in Nuremberg.John Denison Champlin, Charles CallahanCyclopedia of Painters and PaintingsNew York, Publ ...
or
Hans Leonhard Schäufelein.
[Gert von der Osten, Horst Vey (1969). ''Painting and Sculpture in Germany and the Netherlands, 1500 to 1600''. Penguin Group, . Pages 217-18] From the 1530s onwards his works seem to display familiarity with contemporary northern Italian painting.
Hans Baldung Grien
Hans Baldung (1484 or 1485 – September 1545), called Hans Baldung Grien, (being an early nickname, because of his predilection for the colour green), was a painter, printer, engraver, draftsman, and stained glass artist, who was considered ...
was also influential to his work.

Early on he worked for Count
Eitel Friedrich III of
Hohenzollern
The House of Hohenzollern (, also , german: Haus Hohenzollern, , ro, Casa de Hohenzollern) is a German royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenb ...
in
Veringenstadt
Veringenstadt ( Swabian: ''Verenga'') is a town in the district of Sigmaringen, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 10 km north of Sigmaringen.
Geographical location
Veringenstadt is situated in the valley of the Lauchert, a tr ...
. Later he was called to Meßkirch to work for Count
Gottfried Werner von Zimmern.
Throughout the master's career his figures had
Manneristic proportions. While early on his colors were bright and iridescent, his coloration became calmer and more muted in his last years.
His most important works include:
*The Falkenstein Altarpiece (1525)
*Frescoes from the choir of the Cistercian abbey at the (1532–35)
*The altarpieces for Stiftskirche von St. Martin, from which more than 40 panels have been separated and are held in the collections of European and American museums.
Citations
References
* Feuerstein, Heinrich (1933). ''Der Meister von Meßkirch im Lichte der neuesten Funde und Forschungen''. Freiburg: Urban Verlag
* Moraht-Fromm, Anna; Hans Westhoff (1997). ''Der Meister von Meßkirch. Forschungen zur südwestdeutschen Malerei des 16. Jahrhunderts''. Ulm: Süddeutsche Verlags-Gesellschaft. .
{{DEFAULTSORT:Messkirch, Master of
German Renaissance painters
Anonymous artists
1500s deaths
Year of birth uncertain
16th-century German painters