Triptych with The Lamentation of Christ (center), St. Barbara (left wing), St. Catherine of Alexandria (right wing), The Annunciation (reverse wings) (c. 1500): Art, History and Details

Triptych with The Lamentation of Christ (center), St. Barbara (left wing), St. Catherine of Alexandria (right wing), The Annunciation (reverse wings) (c. 1500) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Master of the Krainburg Altar (Austrian, active c. 1485–1510).

The work and its context

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

The triptych shows an exact representation of Jerusalem. The model is a woodcut by Erhard Reuwich for the publication Pilgrimage to the Holy Land, by Bernhard von Breydenbach, published in Mainz in 1486. This book became a bestseller, reprinted thirteen times over the next three decades. The painter who was active in today’s Slovenia around 1500 adapted this for his depiction of the Lamentation of Christ.

Object facts

• Title: Triptych with The Lamentation of Christ (center), St. Barbara (left wing), St. Catherine of Alexandria (right wing), The Annunciation (reverse wings)
• Date: c. 1500
• Creator attribution: Master of the Krainburg Altar (Austrian, active c. 1485–1510)
• Culture: Austria
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Center: oil on poplar; Wings: oil and gold leaf on poplar panel
• Dimensions: Center: 45.7 x 33 cm (18 x 13 in.); Wings: 51 x 15.9 cm (20 1/16 x 6 1/4 in.)
• Collection: MED - Gothic
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 2022.86

A detail from the museum

The Master of Krainburg was active in the area of today's Slovenia and should therefore be called the Master of Kranj in Slovenian.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Exposition des Primitifs Français, and HENRI FRANCOIS XAVIER MARIE BOUCHOT. EXPOSITION DES PRIMITIFS FRANCAIS. 1904.
• Paul Cassirer und Hugo Helbing (Firm). Die Sammlung Richard von Kaufmann, Berlin; II. Band. 1917.
• Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc. Paintings by Old Masters. 1942.

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.