Without Lifting A Finger

    [From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temptation_of_Saint_Anthony_in_visual_arts ] 

Sebald: Long before that time pain had entered into the pictures. That is the command, knows the painter who on the altar aligns himself with the scant company of the fourteen auxiliary saints. Each of these, the blessed Blasius, Achaz and Eustace; Panthaleon, Aegidius, Cyriax, Christopher and Erasmus and the truly beautiful St. Vitus with the cockerel,... *             *   St. Vitus with the cockerel:               *     The Auxiliary Saints [ edit ] The fourteen saints are: Name (Alternate) Feast day Patronage Agathius (Acacius) c 8 May Against headache Barbara ! Barbara n 4 December Against fever and sudden death Blaise ! Blaise (Blase, Blasius) a 3 February Against illness of the throat and for protection of domestic animals Catherine of Alexandria m 25 November Against sudden death Christopher ! Christopher (Christophorus) g 25 July Against bub...

Sebald: Hence too, at the center of the Lindenhardt altar's right wing,... * St. Dionysius in Grunewald's Lindenhardt altar's right wing:           *   St. Denis = St. Dionysius     *   According to Christian tradition, Saint Denis (also called Dionysius , Dennis , or Denys ) is a Christian martyr and saint . In the third century, he was Bishop of Paris . He was martyred in connection with the Decian persecution of Christians , shortly after 250 AD. Denis is said to have picked his head up after being decapitated , walked ten kilometres (six miles), and preached a sermon the entire way, making him one of many cephalophores in hagiology . He is venerated in the Roman Catholic Church as patron of Paris, France, and as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers . The medieval and modern French name "Denis" derives from the ancient name Dionysius .     [From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis ...

Sebald: These were strangely disguised instances of resemblance, wrote Fraenger whose books were burned by the fascists. * Wilhelm Fraenger (5 June 1890 – 19 February 1964) was a German art historian. Fraenger was born in Erlangen . He was a specialist in the epoch of the German Peasants' War and of the mysticism of the Late Middle Ages. He wrote important studies of Jerg Ratgeb , Matthias Grünewald and Hieronymus Bosch . His work on Bosch was very influential in its day and considered Bosch under the aspect of occultism , seeing Bosch as an artist guided by an esoteric mysticism. He maintained friendships with numerous artists and intellectuals, some stretching decades. [1] He died in Potsdam , aged 73. [From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Fraenger ]

Sebald: Grunewald's face reappears, too, in a Basel painting by Holbein the Younger of a crowned female saint.... * This seems to be the Holbein:   From Wikimedia Commons: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Head_of_a_Female_Saint,_by_Hans_Holbein_the_Younger.jpg  

Sebald: Last of all, in the afternoon light in the Erlangen library, it shines forth from a self-portrait,... * From the image's description (Wikimedia Commons): "In the past often regarded as a self-portrait of Grunewald, but according to the most recent research a study of the writing John the Evangelist of Patmos." *   [Description and image from Wikimedia Commons: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grunewald_Self_Portrait.jpg ]  

Sebald: The face of the unknown Grunewald emerges again and again in his work as a witness to the snow miracle, a hermit in the desert, a commiserator in the Munich "Mocking of Christ".... * The Mocking of Christ (German: Die Verspottung Christi ) is an early oil on wood painting (1503–1505) by Matthias Grünewald . It is located today in the Alte Pinakothek , Munich . Description Christ sits blindfolded on a low stone wall. His hands and arms are bound with a rope. A torturer who pulls on the rope stands before him, with his back turned to the viewer. Another stands behind Christ and tugs on his hair and has raised his fist to strike him. On the right a man with a staff in his left hand and with his other holds back the second torturer, who appears not to notice him. An older man faces the man with the staff, and lays his hands upon the latter's shoulders, and appears to be conversing with him. In the background are three further men: on the left a musician who...

Sebald's After Nature . The whole: a poem, perhaps (though it reads very much like his prose). Part One: ... As the Snow on the Alps : Ekphrastic, to some degree. But whatever the truth, I thought it'd be fun to sketch some of the tidbits re the elusive Matthias Grunewald, as they appear in part one of Sebald's tripartite work. My work (this) is a scrivener's work in progress. I think it will be best to deliver it in multiple (hopefully uninterrupted) posts. * Sebald: Whoever closes the wings of the altar in the Lindenhardt parish church and locks up... * Lindenhardt altar The Lindenhardt altar is a late Gothic winged altar.  It is located in the old fortified church Lindenhardt and holds a painting by Mathias Grünewald from 1503, which shows Christ and 14 helpers.   The statues come from Michael Wolgemut .  T he altar was originally in the church of Bindlach .   After a new altar had been made ​​for this church, the Green Forest Altar...

Grunewald, Matthias (1470c.-1528) - 1512-1516 The Temptation of St. Anthony - Isenheim Altar Panel ( Musée d'Unterlinden, Colmar, France) , a photo by RasMarley on Flickr. The "mythical sparrow-hawk" in Grunewald's Temptation of St. Anthony is the starting point for Berger's conjecture that the wounds on Grunewald's Christ are intentionally "suggestive of a bird that has had its feathers plucked." Could be, I suppose. But does this idea go against the notion that Grunewald's Christ is suffering from St. Anthony's fire? Though Berger mentions the plague and syphilis, he is silent on the disease known as St. Anthony's fire (apparently now called ergotism) and its relation to this masterpiece.

Grunewald's Crucifixion , a photo by Aidan McRae Thomson on Flickr. Was thinking about this fantastic piece today. Was thinking especially of the disease depicted: St. Anthony's Fire (see below). We saw this altarpiece in Colmar years ago. Maybe I snuck a photo or two, but I remember it being very difficult. They didn't encourage photos. [Excerpt from Stanley Meisler's "A Masterpiece Born of Saint Anthony's Fire": http://www.stanleymeisler.com/smithsonian/smithsonian-1999-09-grunewald.html ]