Matthias Grünewald

Matthias Grünewald (c. 1470–1528) created the most emotionally intense religious paintings of the German Northern Renaissance. His real name was Mathis Gothart Nithart; "Grünewald" was invented by a 17th-century biographer. Unlike his contemporary Albrecht Dürer, who embraced Italian Renaissance ideals, Grünewald stayed rooted in the Gothic tradition. His figures writhe with agony, his colors blaze with supernatural intensity, and his religious scenes carry a visceral spiritual charge that later influenced German Expressionists.

His masterpiece is the Isenheim Altarpiece (1512–1516), created for a hospital run by the Antonite Order in Alsace. The monks treated patients suffering from ergotism, a gangrenous skin disease caused by fungus-infected rye. Grünewald's Crucifixion panel shows Christ's body covered in wounds and sores, designed to speak directly to the suffering of the sick. The altarpiece has multiple hinged panels that open to reveal different scenes, including an Annunciation, Resurrection, and Concert of Angels. Around 1516, Grünewald entered the service of Cardinal Albrecht of Mainz. He lost this position in 1526, apparently due to sympathy with the Peasants' Revolt. He spent his final years in Protestant-leaning cities, working as a hydraulic engineer in Halle, where he died in 1528. Only ten paintings and thirty-five drawings survive. The Isenheim Altarpiece remains at the Musée Unterlinden in Colmar, France.