Volets de retable - Souabe vers 1500

Magnificent altarpiece shutters in high relief representing young Saint-Paul and Saint-Pierre.
Commissioned work, our saints are represented in their youth. We can very clearly recognize Saint-Pierre with his keys as well as Saint-Paul with his sword. The contrapposto of the latter can remind us of that of the Knight of the Fischkastenbrunnen produced by Michael Erhart (1440-1522) around 1482.
Saint Paul was a disciple of Christ and became one of his apostles, although he was not part of the circle of 12.
Saint Peter is one of the 12 apostles of Christ and is known to be one of these most faithful disciples. It gave rise to a very large number of artistic works, particularly in the history of the art of the Latin West.

Usually carved from a single block of wood, the sculpture is worked horizontally, placed on a large lathe so that the sculptor can rotate it at will.
A fixing mark is thus visible on the top of the skull of our two sculptures.

One often characterizes by “late Gothic” or “Spätgotik” the works carried out in the alpine crescent during XVIe century (Tyrol, Suabia, Northern Italy, Helvetia).
We can compare these sculptures to those in the studio of Michael Erhart (1440-1522).
After having worked in Ulm with Jörg Syrlin the Elder, Michael Erhart in turn sets up his workshop. We also know that in 1493 he collaborated with Hans Holbein the Elder to make the altarpiece for Weingarten Abbey. Only painted panels remain in Augsburg Cathedral today.

Polychromed resinous wood, 1m30 by 52cm, thickness 22cm.