(Nördlingen c. 1455/60–1518/ 22 Ulm) The Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus against an engraved and embossed gold ground, oil on panel, 40 x 33.5 cm, framed,

Provenance: Dr. Carl Koch Collection, Berlin; art trade, Tübingen (1971); Dr. Rupert Strohmayer Collection, Bremen; sale, Lempertz, Cologne, 6 June 1973, lot 211; Southern German private collection.

Literature: Sakrale Skulpturen, catalogue, Sammlung Strohmayer, Bremen, 1972/73, no. 27; B. Konrad, A. Stange, Die deutschen Tafelbilder vor Dürer, Kritisches Verzeichnis mit Abbildungen und Ergänzungen, database, Radolfzell 2009, NW615-6 (repr.). Comparative Literature: C. Koch, Zeitbloms reifer Stil, doctoral dissertation, Berlin 1909; E. Buchner, „Bericht über den Meister des Blaubeurer Altars“, in: Münchner Jahrbuch der Bildenden Künste, N. F., 1, 1924, pp. 307/8; A. Stange, Deutsche Malerei der Gotik, 8, 1957, pp. 25-39; B. Bushart, „‘Meister des Pfullendorfer Altars‘ oder Bernhard Strigel?“, in: ZfKG 21, 1958, pp. 230-42; B. Bushart, „Studien zur altschwäbischen Malerei, Ergänzungen und Berichtigungen zu A. Stanges ‚Deutsche Malerei der Gotik‘ 8“, in: ZfKG, 22, 1959, pp. 143-47; W. Hugelshofer, „Gemälde kleineren Formats von Bartholomäus Zeitblom“, in: Pantheon 23, 1965, pp. 370-75; Kunstwerke aus dem ehemaligen Augustinerchorherrenstift St. Michael zu den Wengen in Ulm, ed. by E. Treu and E. Wortmann, Ulm 1980. We are grateful to Dr. Bernd Konrad, Radolfzell, who has identified the present painting as an important work by Zeitblom (certificate of January 2010). We also thank Dr. Bodo Brinkmann, Kunstmuseum Basel, for his assistance in cataloguing this painting. The present painting constitutes an important addition to the oeuvre of the chief master of the Ulm painting school. Zeitblom was born in Nördlingen, where he was trained in the workshop of Friedrich Herlin. Documents prove his presence in Ulm from 1482, where he married the daughter of Hans Schüchlin and took over the latter‘s workshop. His first secure work, an altar for the Kilchberg palace chapel, dates from around this period. It shows a carved central shrine typical of the master, which is flanked by two painted wings depicting flatly rendered and rather sturdy figures of saints. Influences from Ulm wood carving and glass painting are reflected both in the Bingen Altar (c. 1490) and in the Blaubeuren Altar (1493/94), with their crowded arrangements of figures. The Eschach Altar from 1496 is the first to feature Zeitblom‘s characteristic motif of elongated folds in the drapery of his statuary figures. This development of his two-dimensional and rigid figures without volume in favour of a spatial dimension becomes even more evident in the Heerberg Altar from 1497/98; it shows a Birth of Christ for whose background Zeitblom referred to Dürer. Dürer‘s influence also manifests itself in the four large paintings devoted to the legend of St Valentine (c. 1500). Zeitblom‘s work is marked by solemnity and tranquil contemplation, which he combined with brilliant colours. He is rightly considered the last great master of Gothic art in Ulm. A comprehensive documentation of this painting is available for consultation.

Provenance: Dr. Carl Koch Collection, Berlin; art trade, Tübingen (1971); Dr. Rupert Strohmayer Collection, Bremen; sale, Lempertz, Cologne, 6 June 1973, lot 211; Southern German private collection. Literature: Sakrale Skulpturen, catalogue, Sammlung Str