MEDIEVAL IMAGES OF SAINT BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX - PA038.jpg


Category	Painting
Origin: artist/workshop	Joerg Breu (c 1475/80-1536)
Date	16C/1
Reference No
Size	74x74
Provenance	Zwettl Cistercian Abbey, abbot's chapel
Present Location	Zwettl Abbey Church
Bibliography	VP1:3:17-8 (PL185:236-7); LA211; Buberl 1940, 113; Kubes & Roessl 1979, 7-14; Dijon 1953, 57
	Zwettl 1981, 743-5; Paffrath 1984, 421; Sprusansky 1991, 43-4; Tomaschek 1989, 40-3; Aurenhammer 1959-67, 338
Illustration From	Paffrath 1984, 371
Other illustrations	Buberl 1940, ill 84 (also, as one of six, ill 82 top left)
	Zwettl 1981, 744; Sprusansky 1991, ill 11; Tomaschek 1989, 42
Country	Austria

Description:
One of the eight scenes from the two wings of the altar commissioned by Abbot Wolfgang Oertl of Zwettl (1495-1508) for his private chapel and painted in 1500 by Joerg Breu on fig wood. The centre of the altarpiece consists of painted wood carvings, mostly gilt, of the Virgin flanked by Bernard on the left and St Benedict on the right (see SC10). The wings have two scenes from the life of Bernard on each side, eight altogether. The four scenes on the outer side are framed in red while the four scenes on the inner side (the ones visible when the wings are open) are framed in gold with foliate ornament on the lower border. The outer side (seen when the wings are closed) on the left, upper panel, depicts Bernard as a boy with five small brothers leaving their parents and sister together with three small servants carrying bundles. There are two small dogs in the foreground, one white and one brown. The castle courtyard may be seen through the gateway, and on the right is a meadow landscape with a road and a town with a high church tower on the shore of a lake in the far distance (see also SC10, PA039-045).

Description:

One of the eight scenes from the two wings of the altar commissioned by Abbot Wolfgang Oertl of Zwettl (1495-1508) for his private chapel and painted in 1500 by Joerg Breu on fig wood. The centre of the altarpiece consists of painted wood carvings, mostly gilt, of the Virgin flanked by Bernard on the left and St Benedict on the right (see SC10). The wings have two scenes from the life of Bernard on each side, eight altogether. The four scenes on the outer side are framed in red while the four scenes on the inner side (the ones visible when the wings are open) are framed in gold with foliate ornament on the lower border. The outer side (seen when the wings are closed) on the left, upper panel, depicts Bernard as a boy with five small brothers leaving their parents and sister together with three small servants carrying bundles. There are two small dogs in the foreground, one white and one brown. The castle courtyard may be seen through the gateway, and on the right is a meadow landscape with a road and a town with a high church tower on the shore of a lake in the far distance (see also SC10, PA039-045).