Old Masters In The Würth Collection

With the acquisition of the entire collection of old German paintings from the former Fürstlich Fürstenberg Collections in Donaueschingen, one of the most important and exquisite private collections of late medieval art, the Würth Collection has gained a new focus. In addition to well-known masters of Upper Rhine painting from the 15th and 16th centuries, including Hans Holbein the Elder, the Master of Messkirch, Lucas Cranach the Elder and the Younger, Bernhard Striegel and Hans Schäufelin, the collection of paintings also includes lesser-known artists who are in no way inferior to the prominent artists in terms of their skill and importance. It was an era of religious and cultural upheaval, in which competition between different families and groups in the cities led to a large number of art commissions, in addition to pious motives. This publication sheds light on the historical context with regard to the consequences that can be seen in the transformation of traditional themes, as well as the most comprehensive iconographic examination of the paintings to date, which has set itself the task of making the content of the depictions and their meaning comprehensible. Dietmar Lüdke and Kurt Löcher, two of the best experts on late medieval German painting and early modern painting, have been recruited for this project. Additional contributions by Christoph Graf Douglas on the genesis of the collection and by Beate Elsen-Schwedler on the cultural and historical background of this significant period of European history round off the volume.