Lute-playing Angel (made shortly after 1503): Art, History and Details

Lute-playing Angel (made shortly after 1503) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Hans Schnatterpeck (Austrian).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This sculpture was originally placed at the top of the altarpiece of the high altar in the church at Nieder Lana, near Meran, in the South Tyrol (now part of present-day North Italy). The sculptor had contracted in 1503 to complete this altar within eight years for the payment of 1,600 gilders. Hans Schnatterpeck was originally from Landsberg am Lech in Bavaria. By 1478-79 he had settled in Meran where he operated the leading workshop in the area. This angel is a surviving element from his most famous work, the largest Gothic altarpiece of the Alpine region. Other elements survive in various public and private collections.

Object facts

• Title: Lute-playing Angel
• Date: made shortly after 1503
• Creator attribution: Hans Schnatterpeck (Austrian)
• Culture: Austria, Tyrol, early 16th Century
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: Black Forest balsalm fir with polychromy
• Dimensions: Overall: 75 cm (29 1/2 in.)
• Collection: MED - Gothic
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1959.340

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Severance A. Millikin

Further reading listed by the museum

• Cleveland Museum of Art, “Recent Acquisition Press Release,” July 25, 1960, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.
• Cleveland Museum of Art, “Recent Acquisition Press Release,” November 3, 1960, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.