Master of the Hildesheim Magdalene Legend, also known as the Master of the Goettingen Barefoot Altar

Painted for the high altar of the Church of the Augustinian monastery of Saint Mary Magdalene in Hildesheim circa 1416–20;

Thereafter presumably in situ until either their removal during the renovation of the monastery in 1795 or its subsequent closure in 1810;

Graf Werner Moritz von Haxthausen (1720–1842), on loan deposit to the Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne, by 1826, and subsequently at Schloss Haxthausen, Bad Neuhaus, Lower Franconia, by 27 May 1835;

Thence by inheritance to Baron Otto Karl von und zu Brenken (d. 1882);

Thence by inheritance to Marie Gräfin von Rotenhan (d. 1888);

Thence by inheritance to her second husband, Karl Theodor Graf von und zu Guttenberg (1921–1972), Franconia;

With August Mayer-Stoeber, Munich, 1950, acquired from the above before 1950 (as Master Bertram);

Acquired from the above in 1950 by Dieter Graf Landsberg-Velen, Schloss Wocklum, North Rhine-Westphalia (as Master Bertram); 

Thence by family descent to the present owner.

E. Buchner, 'Meisters mit Notnamen und Monogrammisten', in Zeitschrift für Kunst, vol. 4, 1950, pp. 310–12, reproduced figs 256–62 (as Master of the Göttingen Barefoot Altars);

R. Behrens, 'Ein Magdalenen-Altar des Göttinger Barfüßer Meisters', in Niederdeutsche Beiträge zur Kunstgeschichte, vol. I, 1961, pp. 159–68, reproduced figs 120–21 (as Master of the Göttingen Barefoot Altar);

R. Behrens, 'Der Altar in Offensen', in Niederdeutsche Beiträge zür Kunstgeschichte, vol. 4, 1965, p. 92 ff. (as by the same hand as the Hildesheim altar);

Katalog der Alten Meister der Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg 1966, pp. 99–100, under no. 370 (as Master of the Göttingen Barefoot Altar);

A. Stange, Kritisches Verzeichnis der deutschen Tafelbilder vor Dürer, Munich 1967, vol. I, p. 233, no. 765 (as School of Lower Saxony);

B. von Paul Pieper, Die deutschen, niederländischen und italienischen Tafelbilder bis um 1530, Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Münster, Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe, Münster 1986, pp. 431–34 (as Master of the Göttingen Barefoot Altar);

E. Rettich, Altdeutsche Gemälde, in Alte Meister, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Stuttgart 1992, pp. 218–19 (as Master of the Göttingen Barefoot Altar also titled Master of Hildesheim Magdalene Legend);

M. Wolfson, Die deutschen und niederländischen Gemälde bis 1530, Niederländisches Landesmuseum Hannover, Hannover 1992, p. 102 (as Master of the Göttingen Barefoot Altar);

H.G. Gmelin, 'Master of the Goettinger Barfüsseraltar', in Grove Dictionary of Art, 1996, vol. XXX, pp. 693–94;

F.G. Zehnder in H. Kier and F.G. Zehnder, Lust und Verlust. Kolner Sammler zwischen Trikolore und Preussenadler, exh. cat. Cologne, Josef-Haubrich-Kunsthalle, 1995, p. 572, nos 168a–d, all reproduced in colour pl. LXXIV (as Master of the Göttingen Barefooot Altar);

H. Kier and F. G. Zehnder, 'Graf Werner Moritz Maria von Haxthausen (1720–1842)', in Lust und Verlust II: Corpus-Band zu Kölner Gemäldesammlungen 1800–1860, N. Buchmann (ed.), Cologne 1998, pp. 309–10, nos 207, 209–10, 212, all reproduced (as Master of the Göttingen Barefoot Altar);

B. Hartmieg, 'Kunsttechnologische Analyse des Goettinger Barfüss von 1424 im Kontext zeitgenoessischer Altarwerke', Diss. Dresden 2010, pp. 233–34 (as Master of the Göttingen Barefoot Altar);

P. Marx, 'Das Magdalenenretabel aus dem Hildesheimer Reuerinnenkloster. Überlegungen zu seiner Herkunft anhand von Bildprogramm', in Niederdeutsche Beiträge zur Kunstgeschichte, vol. I, 2015, pp. 211–36, reproduced figs 1 and 3 (as Master of the Göttingen Barefoot Altar).