CIRCLE OF HANS LEINBERGER (1480-1531), GERMAN, LOWER BAVARIA, CIRCA 1520-1530 | SAINT ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY

Dr Victor von Klemperer (1876-1942), Dresden;

thence by descent;

sale of his heirs, Sotheby's London, 4 July 1991, lot 77

This striking Saint Elizabeth is clearly influenced by the work of the Bavarian master Hans Leinberger, who was active in Landshut around 1513-1531. Compare his figure of Mary Magdalene in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich (inv. no. 13/303), which is carved with similar lean, elongated limbs, cloak, and the agitated folds of drapery that are characteristic of the master. Further stylistic parallels are found in works attributed to Leinberger's Lower Bavarian circle, such as an Anna Selbdritt group in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum (inv. no. 94/13), whose Saint Anne shows mature features, with a somewhat disquieted expression, that are closely comparable to those of the present Saint. For a similar drapery arrangement, with long looped folds and concentrated areas of rippled creases, see also a Mourning Virgin from Leinberger's following formerly in the Benario collection (Volbach, op. cit., p. 15, no. 53).

RELATED LITERATURE

W.F. Volbach, Kunstwerke aus deutschem Privatbesitz, vol. II, Die Mittelalterlichen Bildwerke der Sammlung Benario, Berlin, 1923, p. 15, no. 53 and pl. XXXVI; F. Niehoff (ed.), Um Leinberger: Schüler und Zeitgenossen, exh. cat. Spitalkirche Heiliggeist, Landshut, 2006, p. 53, fig. 11 and pp. 258-259, no. 57