Matthias Grünewald (Mathis Gothart-Nithart) (1475-1528)

Alte Pinakothek

German painter, born c.1475/80, probably in Würzburg. No information has survived concerning his artistic training, but it is reasonable to assume that he was subject to influences from the Middle Rhine and the Main-Franconian areas. In addition, he may well have been a pupil of Hans Holbein the Elder, who was active in Frankfurt-am-Main soon after 1500. From c.1500 onward Grünewald's presence is documented in Seligenstadt on the River Main, and it is conceivable that he came into contact with Albrecht Dürer in Nuremberg in 1503. He worked in the service of Uriel von Gemmingen, Archbishop of Mainz, and in 1511 wa sthe principal master involved in the building work in Johannisburg Palace in Aschaffenburg, a residence of the Prince Bishop in Mainz. He was perhaps in Isenheim in 1513/15 ("Isenheimer Altar"). From 1516 to 1526 he worked for Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg, who was also Archbishop of Mainz, but he relinquished the office of court painter in 1526., perhaps in conjunction with the uprisings of the peasants and citizens in Seligenstadt (1525), for whom he may well have shown sympathy. He moved to Frankfurt-am-Main. The date of his death was probably 1528 or perhaps 1531. Recent research doubts whether the painter was actually called Matthias Grünewald; his real name was probably Mathis Neithardt Gothardt, or perhaps Mathis Neithardt, called Gothardt.