Isenheim Altarpiece, Medieval winged altarpiece at Unterlinden Museum, Colmar, France
The Isenheim Altarpiece is a multi-paneled winged altarpiece housed at the Unterlinden Museum in Colmar, France, combining painted wooden panels with carved sculptures. The structure allows different layers of imagery to be revealed by opening the wings, each view presenting its own theological message.
Matthias Grünewald painted the panels between 1512 and 1516, while Nikolaus of Haguenau carved the wooden sculptures. Following the French Revolution, the piece moved from the dissolved monastery in Isenheim to the museum in 1793.
The work was commissioned for the Monastery of Saint Anthony, where monks cared for people suffering from ergotism and skin diseases. Patients could see their own pain reflected in the imagery, finding comfort in shared suffering.
The altarpiece stands in its own climate-controlled room within the museum to protect the delicate wooden panels and paint layers. Visitors can understand the different views through the room arrangement, though the wings are no longer moved today.
The Crucifixion scene shows Christ with greenish discolored skin and numerous lesions, symptoms the Antonine monks observed in ergotism patients. This medical precision in representation was unusual for the period and reflected the healing practice of the monks.
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