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Twelve men and a woman kneel on the ground to either side of a moss-green rock and gesture or gaze up at a man floating on a black cloud, flanked by eight men, four to each side, in this vertical painting. The scene has an arched top with a shiny gold background within the curve. All the people have pale skin. The man at the top center, Jesus, sits enveloped in a red robe over a bare chest and feet. He looks down and to our left with light brown eyes under furrowed brows, and his brown hair falls to his shoulders. He has a long, straight nose, a curly beard, and his lips are closed. He holds up his right hand, on our left, with the first two fingers raised. In his other hand, he holds a thin, cross-topped staff with a fluttering red pennant marked with a cross. Red wounds pierce the palms of both hands and blood seeps from a gash over his right ribs. Bands of black clouds, one on each side, are occupied by four bearded men seen from the waist up in a vertical row, looking toward Jesus. Each man holds an object or two, including a palm frond, a book and miniature unicorn, two stone tablets, a harp, or sword, or they hold their hands up in prayer. In the upper corners, above where the gold background arches down, winged angels are painted in translucent white against a navy-blue background. Below Jesus and his cloud, a group of six men to our right and six men and a woman to our left create loose parentheses to either side of a smooth, rounded, green rock. The rock appears broken along the bottom and two footprints are impressed into the top. Closest to us to our left, a woman with pale skin and blond hair, wearing a deep, cobalt-blue mantle over her shoulders, looks up with light eyes and a slight smile on small lips. She holds her hands together in prayer and has a wide, flat, gold halo surrounding her head. Next to her, a cleanshaven young man with blond, curly hair, wearing a green cloak, wraps one arm around her and holds his other up in front of his chest. The other men all have trimmed or long beards. Some are balding with gray or white hair, and some have thick, chestnut or cinnamon-brown hair. They wear robes in crimson red, emerald green, lapis blue, or apricot orange. Most look up to the sky with furrowed brows, but one man, to our right, looks down at his neighbor. A row of leafy plants sprouts along the bottom edge of the painting, under the rock. Rays of light, created by lines incised into the gold background, radiate down from Jesus and upward from the heads of the people below.

Johann Koerbecke

The Ascension, 1456/1457

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 35-A

Medium

tempera on panel

Dimensions

overall: 92.7 x 64.8 cm (36 1/2 x 25 1/2 in.)

framed: 117.1 x 85.1 cm (46 1/8 x 33 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Samuel H. Kress Collection

Accession Number

1959.9.5

Artists / Makers

Johann Koerbecke (artist) German, c. 1420 - 1491

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Overview

Looking up in amazement as Christ ascends into heaven are the twelve apostles. Kneeling with them is the Virgin, the only one to have a halo. Although few of the men can be identified, John the Evangelist is recognizable. He is the blond, beardless youth dressed in green who solicitously puts his arm around Mary. Surrounding the risen Christ are a group of Old Testament personages who either predicted or foreshadowed events of his life on earth.

The gold background, bright colors, and compact space reveal the lingering influence of the International Gothic. However, a new spirit of visual observation also can be detected. The sharp, angular folds of the drapery evoke the perception of real human forms beneath the material. Further, the faces of the apostles reveal a broad variety of human emotions.

This panel was once part of the high altar in the Cistercian abbey church of Marienfeld at Münster. At its center was a richly gilded sculpture of the Virgin and Child. Folding wings extended from this core with pictures on the fronts and backs. When the shutters were open, eight scenes -- including the National Gallery's painting -- revealed the story of Mary's life. In the closed positions, eight other subjects recounted Christ's Passion.

More information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication German Paintings of the Fifteenth through Seventeenth Centuries, which is available as a free PDF https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/german-painting-fifteenth-through-seventeenth-centuries.pdf

Provenance

Part of the high altar in the abbey church of the Cistercian Cloister at Marienfeld, near Münster, completed in 1456/1457, installed 6 February 1457, until 1803.[1] Charles Léon Cardon, Brussels, by 1912.[2] Rudolph Chillingworth, Lucerne, Brussels, and Nuremberg; (sale, Galeries Fischer and Frederik Muller & Cie., Lucerne, 5 September 1922, no. 47); acquired by Jacob Walter Zwicky [d. 1956], Freiburg and Arlesheim-Basel;[3] acquired 1955 by (M. Knoedler & Co., New York); jointly owned with (Pinakos, Inc. [Rudolph Heinemann], New York);[4] purchased 1957 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[5] gift 1959 by exchange to NGA.

[1] Alb. Wormstall, "Zur Geschichte der Liesborner und Marienfelder Altargemälde," Zeitschrift für vaterländische Geschichte und Alterthumskunde 55 (1897), 90-92, Rincklake's "Gutachten" is cited, 99-102. See also Johannes Sommer, Johann Koerbecke. Der Meister des Marienfelder Altares von 1457 (Münster 1937), 11-12, 17-18. Jochen Luckhardt, Der Hochaltar der Zisterzienserklosterkirche Marienfled. (Bildhefte des Westfälischen Landesmuseums für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Nr. 25) (Münster 1987), 24, 34, notes the tradition of reliquary altars in the Cistercian order and reproduces two examples from the fourteenth century.

[2] Exhibited with the Cardon collection in Brussels, 1912: Exposition de la Miniature, exh. cat., Palais Goffinet, Brussels, 1912: no. 2051, as "Anonyme (Ecole de Souabe, XV siècle)."

[3] Per letter from Zicky's son, dated 20 May 1989 (NGA curatorial files). The painting was exhibited at Julius Böhler, Munich, in 1934. It was Böhler no. 37-34, per the index to the card file, Böhler Gallery Records, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles; however, no card appears to exist. Böhler likely had the picture on consignment and returned it to Zwicky.

[4] M. Knoedler & Co. Records, accession number 2012.M.54, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: Stock book no. 10, p. 146, no. A5951, and Sales book no. 17, p. 314 (copies in NGA curatorial files).

[5] See The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2074.

Associated Names

Cardon, Charles Léon
Chillingworth, Rudolph
Cistercian Cloister at Marienfeld, Abbey Church,
Galeries Fischer
Heinemann, Rudolf J.
Knoedler & Company, M.
Kress Foundation, Samuel H.
Muller & Co., Frederik
Zwicky, Jacob Walter

Exhibition History

1912: Exposition de la Miniature, Palais Goffinet, Brussels, 1912, no. 2051, as "Anonyme (Ecole de Souabe, XV siècle)".

1921: Gemälde und Skulpturen 1430-1530. Schweiz und angrenzende Gebiete, Kunsthaus, Zürich, 1921, no. 46.

1934: Ausstellung: Altdeutsche Kunst, Julius Böhler, Munich, 1934, no. 38.

1944: Gemälde und Zeichnungen alter Meister. Kunsthandwerk aus Privatbesitz, Kunstmuseum, Bern, 1944-1945, no. 11.

1952: Westfälische Maler der Spätgotik 1440-1490, Landesmuseum, Münster, 1952, no. 57.

Technical Summary

The painting is composed of three boards with vertically oriented grain. Reading from left to right, the boards measure 32.4, 21.65 and 12.5 cm across. The boards have been thinned. The painting has been cradled, and a wax coating applied. A dendrochronological examination conducted by Peter Klein indicated that the boards came from the same tree, which was probably felled 1410 +6/-4. The gold background was applied over a red bole, and various punches were used to form halos, rays, and what seem to be tongues of flame. A faint incised line defines the major contours and the rocks. The figures' draperies were apparently painted before their hands, and there is a certain amount of overlapping paint in these areas. Examination with infrared reflectography reveals underdrawing in what appears to be a liquid medium. In the draperies there are changes between the underdrawn outlines and the paint layer and alterations in the placement of Saint Peter's eye and nose. A painted edge approximately 1 cm wide on the left, top, and right is reddish brown or orange in color; similar edges are found in other panels from the altarpiece.[1]

In general the painting is in very good condition. The gilding has a fine overall craquelure and some restoration at the extreme left. Only a few discrete losses and retouchings are apparent in the painted areas, with the greatest amount of inpainting occurring in the robes of Christ, the Virgin, and Saint Peter. Unspecified restorations of the altarpiece are recorded as having taken place in 1516/1517 and 1533/1534, but there is no indication as to what degree the National Gallery's panel was affected, if at all.[2]

[1] As, for example, on The Presentation in the Temple and Christ and the Virgin Enthroned in Heaven (both Westfalisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Münster), which are also from the inner wing of the altarpiece. The outer wings have orange painted edges with gold floral motifs on the bottom edges.

[2] Sommer 1937, 14, citing the documents in the Staatsarchiv, Münster, Marienfelder Akten, I, 15b, 15d.

Bibliography

1907: Lippe, M. "Koerbecke, Johann." In Thieme-Becker. 37 vols. Leipzig, 1907-1950: 21(1927):175.

1922: Biermann, Georg. "Die Sammlung Chillingworth. Versteigerung am 5. September in Luzern." Der Cicerone 14 (1922): 663.

1926: Hugelshofer, Walter. "Der Hochaltar von 1457 des Klosters Marienfeld in Westfalen." Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst 60 (1926/1927): 179, repro. 181.

1930: Hugelshofer, Walter. "Koerbecke und der Marienfelder Altar von 1457. Ein Beitrag zur Westfälischen malerei." Der Cicerone 22 (1930): 373.

1933: Rensing, Theodor. "Ein Beitrag zur Koerbecke-frage." Westfalen 18 (1933): 264, repro. 263.

1934: Stange, Alfred. Deutsche Malerei der Gotik. 11 vols. Berlin and Munich, 1934-1961. Munich, 1954: 6:16, 18-19.

1937: Sommer, Johannes. Johann Koerbecke, der Meister des Marienfelder Altares von 1457. Dissertation, Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilherlms-Universität zu Bonn, 1937. Münster, 1937: 16, 20-21, 26, 31-32, no. 7, pl. 10, fig. 16.

1938: Brand, Lotte. Stephan Lochners Hochalter von St. Katharinen zu Köln. Hamburg, 1938: 26-28, 40-43, 65, fig. 6.

1940: Busch, Harald. Meister des Nordens. Die altniederdeutsche Malerei 1450-1550. Hamburg, 1940: 68.

1945: Quensel, Paul. "Ausstellung alter meister in Berner Kunstmuseum," Pro Arte 4, no. 35, (March 1945): 84, repro. 88.

1952: Pieper, Paul. “Westfälische Maler der Spätgothik: Zu der Ausstellung im Landesmuseum in Münster.” Review, in Kunstchronik 5 (1952): 214.

1952: Pieper, Paul. "Westfälische Maler der Spätgotik 1440-1490. Katalog der Ausstellung des Landesmuseums." Westfalen 30 (1952): 92-93, no. 57, 94, pl. 17.

1959: Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 300, repro.

1959: Richardson, E. P., ed. "Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, April-June 1959." The Art Quarterly 22, no. 3 (Autumn 1959): 273, 275, repro.

1960: Broadley Hugh T. German Painting in the National Gallery of Art (Booklet no. 9 in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC). Washington, 1960: 2, 16-17, color repro.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 72.

1967: Stange, Alfred. Kritisches Verzeichnis der deutschen Tafelbilder vor Dürer. 3 vols. 1967-1978. Munich, 1967: 1:153, no. 498f.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 63, repro.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 186, 187, repro.

1975: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 147, no. 159, color repro. (In Rev. ed., New York, 1984: 147, no. 153, color repro.)

1977: Eisler, Colin. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools Excluding Italian. Oxford, 1977: 4-6, fig. 6.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 217, repro.

1986: Ford, Terrence, compiler and ed. Inventory of Music Iconography, no. 1. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York 1986:1, no. 9.

1986: Pieper, Paul. Die deutschen, niederländischen und italienischen Tafelbilder bis um 1530. (Bestandskatalogue, Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Münster, edited by Klaus Bussmann.) Münster, 1986: 166, 169, repro.

1987: Luckhardt, Jochen. Der Hochaltar der Zisterzienserklosterkirche Marienfeld. (Bildhefte des Westfälischen Landesmuseums für Kunst und Kulturegeschichte, no. 25.) Münster, 1987: 8-9, 21-23, fig. 11.

1990: Jászai, Géza. “Der ehemalige Hochaltar der Klosterkirche der Zisterzienserabtei Marienfeld: ein neuer Rekonstructionsversuch.” Westfalen 68 (1990): 33, 36, 41, 43.

1992: National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 58, repro.

1993: Hand, John Oliver, with the assistance of Sally E. Mansfield. German Paintings of the Fifteenth through Seventeenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, 1993: 103-114, color repro. 107.

1995: Löcher, Kurt. Review of German Paintings of the Fifteenth through Seventeenth Centuries, by John Oliver Hand with the assistance of Sally E. Mansfield. Kunstchronik 43 no. 1 (January 1995): 17.

2007: Karrenbrock, Reinhard. “Heilige Häupter in textiler Zier. Das spätgotische Hochaltarretabel der Zisterzienser-Klosterkirche Marienfeld und sein verlorener Reliquienschrein.” Westfalen 85/86 (2007/2008): 263-300, fig. 36.

2020: Stauffer, Annemarie. “Ein ausserordentlicher Reliquienfund und seine Geschichte.” In Hein van der Bruggen and Erik Caris, eds. De Munsterabdij van Roermond: Een ontdekkingstocht door achthonderd jaar geschiedenis van een vrouwenklooster. Zwolle, 2020: 222-237, 334-335 (notes), esp. 232 fig. 13.12.