Master of the Karlsruhe Passion

The Master of the Karlsruhe Passion is the notname of a German painter of the late Gothic period active in the Upper Rhine. Very influential on other painters in the region, he may be identified with the Strasbourg painter Hans Hirtz. He is named after his main work, the Karlsruhe Passion, though he may also have been the artist behind the murals in the former Dominican church in Strasbourg, only known through two 17th century copies (a coloured drawing and an etching).

The Karlsruhe Passion is an altarpiece on panel showing the Passion of Christ painted for the Saint Thomas Church in Strasbourg around 1450 and split up during the Reformation. From 1858 most of the panels were gathered back together in Strasbourg, meaning that six panels are now in the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe. However, one of the Descent from the Cross remains in the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne. Each panel is 46 cm wide and 67 cm high but their original layout is now unknown.

Prayer on the Mount of Olivers

Arrest

Flagellation

Crowning with Thorns

Carrying the Cross

Disrobing

Nailing to the Cross

The panels show their artist's special narrative, visual and symbolic language and include lower-class characters. Their interpretation of the Passion recalls the aims of the contemporary Devotio Moderna, which recommended independent scriptural study and a personal relationship with God.

The panels' narrative qualities are also new in Upper Rhenish art and influenced the development of painting in the region. A similarity in the rendering of the draperies links the Master of the Karlsruhe Passion to the Master of the Drapery Studies - the former may have taught the latter. The impact of the Master of the Karlsruhe Passion can be seen in Upper Rhenish art between around 1485 and 1500, particularly in artists active in Strasbourg.

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