Welcome to the Altarpiece of Holy Blood Site!

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Description of Object Medium

The Holy Blood Altarpiece is set in St. James church in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany. This altarpiece is an unpainted retable, which became very popular by the late 15th century.  It was carved by the German Gothic sculptor, Tilman Riemenschneider from 1499-1505 out of limewood. Tilman worked mostly with this material, also lindenwood, and sometimes stone. The altarpiece was never meant to be painted, but there is a pigmented glaze to protect the wood. As well as, a little bit of color to highlight the faces. 

Location and Function

 Despite being moved several times due to restoration purposes, The Altarpiece of Holy Blood can be found in its original location, Jakobskirche (Saint Jacob's church) in the German
town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber. 
In Jakobskirche, the Altarpiece of Holy Blood serves as a retable and reliquary for the relic of The Precious Blood (The Blood of Christ).  This reliquary's ornamentation is a sculpture of the Last Supper. The use of the Last Supper represents a solution to a theological query, the question of the granting of benevolence to a sinner, through the sculptures emphasis on Jesus offering communion to Judas during this scene of the Last Supper. [i]

[i] Thomas Kaufmann. Court, Cloister, and City: The Art and Culture of Central Europe 1450-1800. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 1995.

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Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany

Process of Construction

    
The Altarpiece of the Holy Blood was created by a German sculptor named Tilman Riemenschneider. It was made in Rothenburg, Germany for the St. James Church where it still remains today. Riemenschneider often used limewood to create his peices, including the Holy Blood altarpiece. He sculpted in a way that paid close attention to detail. The people and faces that he rendered where full of inner expression. Many artists and sculptors were beginning to take the Classical approach to their figures with overly expressive characteristics. Riemenshneider however, left his characters with a more simple expression making them look deep in thought.    


Comparison Object

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Michael Pacher, Saint Wolfgang Altarpiece, 1471-81. Limewood and pine, 12 ft 9.5 in. x 10 ft 4 in. (Center panel) Church of Saint Wolfgang, Austria.
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Tilman Riemenschneider, Altarpiece of the Holy Blood,
1499-1505. Limewood, 29 ft 6.375 in. Church of Saint Jacob, Rothenburg.

The Saint Wolfgang Altarpiece, by Michael Pacher, is very similar to the Altarpiece of the Holy Blood by Tilman Riemenschneider. Pacher constructed the Saint Wolfgang Altarpiece  from 1475 to 1481, which predates Riemenschneider's Altarpiece of the Holy Blood. The Saint Wolfgang Altarpiece is a very elaborate, polychromatic, structure. The gold leaf on the figures and the immensely detailed architecture brings movement and life to the piece. The fact that it is painted presents a more humanistic quality. Since Holy Blood is monochromatic, it lacks some of that humanity. However, to make up for the fact that it was not painted, Riemenschneider added more detail and finishing touches to the woodcuts than Pacher did. The fact that Holy Blood  is monochromatic is due to a shift in preference at the time for unpainted sculpture.

They are both some form of polyptych. However, Pacher's has many paintings that are surrounding the center sculpted panel which consists of the 
Coronation of the Virgin, while Riemenschneider's outer panels are reliefs in wood. There is nothing on the outer side of the reliefs of the Holy Blood, 
while the outer side of Wolfgang does have more paintings. The content on those outer panels on both pieces has narrative and significance.