Attributed to Hans Schnatterpeck (active late 15th/early 16th century), Tyrol, circa 1500

With Senger Bamberg Kunsthandel GmbH, Bamberg, 2016;

From whom acquired.

Hans Schnatterpeck was a prominent late-Gothic sculptor active in South Tyrol during the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Although little is recorded about his early life, Schnatterpeck is documented to have been active in Merano (Meran), where he led a productive workshop that supplied elaborately carved altarpieces to churches across the region. His most celebrated work is the towering, high altarpiece of the parish church of Lana (completed in 1511), one of the largest surviving Gothic wooden altarpieces in the Alps.

Saint Martin is shown in the act of cutting his cloak in half to share it with the beggar. According to legend, Christ appeared to Martin in a dream that same night, wearing the portion of the cloak the young soldier had given away, thanking him for his compassion.

One rare example of Schnatterpeck's work is preserved in the Cleveland Museum of Art: the polychromed wood sculpture Lute‑playing Angel, carved around 1503 and originally part of the high altarpiece for the parish church at Northern Lana.

RELATED LITERATURE

R. Kahsnitz, Die großen Schnitzaltäre: Spätgotik in Süddeutschland, Österreich, Südtirol, Regensburg 2005.