Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1503 Stoss spent a stint in jail for forgery, but restored his reputation with the main altar in
Bamberg's cathedral, his crowning achievement.
RENAISSANCE
The Renaissance saw the rise of human elements in painting: religious figures were now
depicted alongside mere mortals. The heavyweight - quite literally - in Germany was the
Nuremberg-born Albrecht Dürer, who excelled both as a painter and graphic artist. His
subjects ranged from mythology to religion to animals, all in fantastic anatomical detail,
natural perspective and vivid colours. The Alte Pinakothek in Munich has several famous
works, and his Nuremberg house is now a museum.
Dürer influenced Lucas Cranach the Elder, a major artist of the Reformation. Cranach's
approach to landscape painting, though, grew out of the
Donauschule
(Danube School),
an artistic movement based in Passau and Regensburg. The amazing details of these land-
scapes seethed with dark movement, making them the focal point of the painting rather
than a mere backdrop.
The brightest star among Renaissance sculptors was Tilman Riemenschneider. His
skills were formidable, allowing his stone to mimic wood and featuring compositions
playing on light and shadow. Must-sees include the altars in the Jakobskirche in Rothen-
burg ob der Tauber and in the Herrgottskirche in Creglingen, both on the Romantic Road.
The Mainfränkisches Museum in Würzburg also has an outstanding Riemenschneider col-
lection.
BAROQUE & ROCOCO
The sugary styles of the baroque and rococo periods left their mark throughout Bavaria,
especially in church art. Illusionary effects and contrast between light and shadow are typ-
ical features, and surfaces are often bewilderingly ornate.
Arguably the finest and most prolific artists of the period, the brothers Cosmas and
Egid Asam, were of a generation of Germans educated in Rome in the Italian baroque tra-
dition. Their father, Hans Georg, was a master fresco artist who transformed the Basilika
St Benedikt in Benediktbeuern. Word of their supreme talent, along with the family's con-
nections in the Benedictine order, meant the duo were always swamped with work. Cos-
mas was primarily a fresco painter while Egid used his considerable talents as an architect
and stucco sculptor. Examples of their brilliant collaboration can be found throughout
Bavaria, mostly notably in the Asamkirche in Munich and the Asamkirche Maria de Vict-
oria in Ingolstadt.
Another set of brothers dominating the baroque period was Dominikus and Johann
Baptist Zimmermann, whose collaboration reached its pinnacle in the Unesco-listed
