Attributed to Lux Maurus (circa 1470-1527) South German, Allgäu, circa 1510-1520

The overall condition of the wood is good with minor wear and dirt to the surface consistent with age. There is some splitting in the wood consistent with the material such as on the mitre. A few parts of the sculpture are carved in sections including the left and right sides of the back, proper left hand and some of the proper right fingers. The tip of the right shoe is carved separately. Their is a plug to the left of the beggar's proper left hand. There are a number of smaller plugs including to the front of the mitre. The two flaps of the mitre are lost with the exception of the bottom of the proper right flap. The back is hollow, there are a few holes to the back and the two separate sections on the side are lined with organic material. A few small losses including to the drapery and base. The bottom of the staff is lost and there may be further losses. There may be a loss to the back of the head.
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After 1510 German limewood sculpture attained a level of mannerism comparable to Italian sculpture after the High Renaissance. Artists asserted themselves by carving extraordinarily elaborate passages of drapery, highly individualised faces and stunning detail. The major products of this movement include the high altar in St. Stephen's church in Breisach by the Master H.L., the high altar from the abbey church of Zwettl now in Adamsthal by the Master of Zwettl, and Master of Mauer's Marienaltar in Mauer bei Melk. These carvers were all part of the so-called Donau School since they were mainly active in towns along this river. They remain unidentified because of their sparse work which is generally found in smaller towns.

The present statue, with its levitating nervously crumpled drapery, overt rendering of the way the hand of the saint sits in his glove, and loose skin in both the face and neck, is very much part of this tradition. It is undoubtedly by the same hand as a set of three statues of St. Sylvester, the Virgin and Child and St. Anne in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum (inv. nos. MA3468 to 70). The similarities with St. Sylvester in particular are numerous and striking, from the gloves, the movement of the drapery, and the way the skin falls on the skull to the fringe of the lappets of the mitre and papal crown, and the crumpled collar. According to Müller's catalogue (op.cit.) two more statues by this master survive in German collections and were attributed to a sculptor active in Füssen in 1922 and to Lux Maurus from Kempten in 1934. Maurus also carved a pair of reliefs of St. Christopher and St. George now in the Collection of the Oberschwäbischen Elektrizitätswerke. The drapery and facial type seen in the latter relief in particular compare well to the present St. Martin.

RELATED LITERATURE
T. Müller, Die Bildwerke in Holz, Ton und Stein von der Mitte des XV. bis gegen Mitte des XVI. Jahrhunderts, cat. Bayerisches Nationalmuseums, Munich, 1959, pp. 246-247, nos. 249-251; R. Kahsnitz, Die Großen Schnitzaltäre. Spätgotik in Süddeutschland, Österreich, Südtirol, Munich, 2005, pp. 324-341, 364-385 and 440-463