(born c. 1475/80 – died c. 1531), Madonna with Child, south German c. 1515-20, fruitwood carved in the round, on original socle with gothic arch decoration, height 53,5 cm, small parts replacd, (MC)

Hans Leinberger (Lemberger) was one of the most important sculptors of the late Gothic in Old Bavaria. In around 1510-15 he settled in Landshut, from 1516 he made works for Duke Ludwig X. His greatest work is considered to be the high altar of the Kastulus cathedral in Moosburg an der Isar from the year 1514; also the 1513 Virgin and Child with St Anne relief in the church of St John in Gnadenthal cloister in Ingolstadt. In 1514 he was charged with the execution of the bronze statue of Count Abrecht IV of Habsburg, after a design by Albrecht Dürer for the tomb of Kaiser Maximilian in the Innsbruck Hofkirche. The culmination of his work was reached with the one-time ‘Rosenkranz Madonna’ of St. Martin in Landshut c. 1516/18 and the St Jodok c. 1525. The dramatic and strongly dynamic folds of the robe with the pronounced triangular mantle of the Madonna and Child offered here show a close relationship with Leinberger’s work. Mary’s face and the high forehead and hair wreath are comparable with Leinberger’s Madonna and Child of 1515 and the Rosenkranz Madonna of 1516-18.