For lovers of art, history and trivia, we travel back to the Renaissance and High Middle Ages to meet three more amazing German artists whose influence resounds through time. Here are Albrecht Dürer, Mattias Grünewald and the brilliant German abbess, Hildegarde von Bingen.
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1. Albrecht Dürer (1471 - 1528)
Born in the free city-state of Nuremberg, one of eighteen children to a goldsmith, Dürer is perhaps the most influential artist of the German Renaissance. By the time he was in his twenties he achieved European fame with his detailed woodcut prints.
He was also the first Western artist to paint landscapes as subject matter. He traveled frequently to Italy to hang with Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci and was enchanted by the Italian scenery. His paintings and etchings are often small in size, some having been done on the road.
Dürer showed artistic genius from early years. At fifteen he apprenticed to a renowned painter and printmaker in Nuremberg, Michael Wolgemut.
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After apprenticeship he followed the German custom of Wanderjahre or Travel Years, taking a year or more to wander and learn skills from masters in other areas. Dürer traveled for four years.
During his lifetime he kept copious records of his travels, philosophies, studies and observations. His writings and books about etching and printmaking, details and proportion, were eagerly studied by succeeding generations. Dürer remains one of the most important figures in the art history of Germania.
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2. Matthias Grünewald (1470 - 1528)
A German Renaissance painter, Grünewald was a rebel. He boldly ignored the classic emphasis of the times to bring forward the style of late medieval art. Few of his works survive, about ten paintings and thirty-five drawings in all. His paintings are large scale, often using several panels, and religious in subject matter.
Grünewald's work was obscure until the late 19th century, with some of his paintings attributed to Albrecht Dürer, although the two styles are distinctly different. During his lifetime Grünewald was well known, as told by records of commissions he received from the Church or wealthy patrons.
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He's most famous for his work on the Isenheim Altarpiece from 1512-16 (above, in part). The Altarpiece is a huge multi-paneled painting with two sets of folding wings. It was created for the Monastery of St. Anthony, which specialized in medicine, especially care of plague sufferers and treatment of ergotism and other skin diseases.
Thus is the image of crucified Christ pocked with plague-type sores, showing patients how Jesus understood and shared their suffering. This authentic depiction of medical diseases was rare in Europe at the time.
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Grünewald was also a court painter for the Archbishop of Mainz. Despite his success, he is described by an acquaintance as leading a reclusive, melancholy life. His marriage ended badly in 1523, with his wife Anna sent to an institution due to mental illness, or demonic possession.
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3. Hildegarde of Bingen (1098 - 1179)
Hildegard of Bingen was also known as Saint Hildegard and the Sibyl of the Rhine. A German Benedictine abbess, she was a polymath active as a writer, music composer, philosopher, visionary, medical writer and practitioner during the High Middle Ages.
As a composer she's known for sacred monophony, a type of Christian folk music rendered down to its simplest melody. The tune is sung or played on a single instrument without accompaniment.
For her work in medicine and science she's considered the founder of scientific natural history, or the study of plants, animals and other living organisms, in Germany. In 2012, she was named a Doctor of the Church by the Pope.
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Her Scivias describes her twenty-six visionary experiences. The work contains 35 illuminated manuscript paintings embellished with ornamentation and gold leaf. The title comes from the Latin Sci vias Domini (Know the Ways of the Lord). She also wrote three volumes of visionary theology.
Hildegard felt a strong faith all her life. She said she first saw "The Shade of the Living Light" at age of three, and by five years old, began to realize she was having visions.
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