Isenheim Altarpiece (predella and wings)
Isenheim Altarpiece open — Annunciation and Concert of Angels
Matthias Grünewald, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The Isenheim Altarpiece — already entered at #4 with its main Crucifixion panel — contains additional panels of equal importance. The predella (the long horizontal lower panel beneath the Crucifixion) shows the Entombment of Christ: a horizontal body being lowered into a stone sarcophagus, attended by mourning figures including the Virgin, John, and the Magdalene.
The folded wings (when the outer panels are opened) reveal scenes of the Annunciation, the Concert of Angels, the Nativity, and the Resurrection — all painted in Grünewald's unique combination of Late Gothic emotional intensity and Renaissance colour. These 'joyful' panels, painted in dazzling colour and light, were designed as the contrast to the agonised Crucifixion exterior: the same altarpiece contains both the full pain of the Passion and the full joy of the Incarnation and Resurrection. For Grünewald's biographical context and main Crucifixion entry, see entry 4.
The Isenheim Altarpiece was made for the hospital chapel of the Antonite monastery at Isenheim, which treated patients suffering from ergotism (St Anthony's Fire) — a disease that caused terrifying skin eruptions, convulsions, and gangrene. The patients who saw the Crucifixion panel saw a Christ whose body exhibited their own symptoms; when the altarpiece was opened to show the Resurrection and Annunciation panels, they saw the promise of transformation and healing. The predella Entombment was always visible at the base.
The Annunciation panel (inner left wing) shows an unusually dramatic Gabriel and a Virgin who recoils slightly from the angel's appearance. The Concert of Angels is a surreal gathering of musical angels around the Christ Child in a Gothic chapel. The Resurrection panel shows Christ as a radiant figure of light exploding from the tomb, his body now transformed from the lacerated Crucifixion body into a figure of pure light — the most extreme contrast of any polyptych altarpiece.
When standing before this work, look carefully: Isenheim Altarpiece open — Annunciation and Concert of Angels. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
When standing before this work, look carefully: The Resurrection — transfigured body of light. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
When standing before this work, look carefully: Predella — Entombment of Christ. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
When standing before this work, look carefully: Concert of Angels — dazzling colour and light. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
Musée d'Unterlinden, Place Unterlinden, 68000 Colmar, France. Open daily (closed Tuesdays November-March). The altarpiece is displayed in a purpose-built room in the former convent building.