Bernt Notke

Bernt Notke, assumed self-portrait (from the altarpiece Mass of St. Gregory, ca. 1504, destroyed 1943).

Bernt Notke^ⓘ (c. 1440 – before May 1509) was a late Gothic artist, working in the Baltic region. He has been described as one of the foremost artists of his time in northern Europe.

Life

Very little is known about the life of Bernt Notke. He came from the small town of Lassan in Pomerania. His father was probably the trader and ship-owner Michel Notke, who had his main business in Tallinn. His mother was probably Michel's second wife Gertraut, who was from Visby. Bernt Notke was married at least once, but the name of his wife remains unknown. He is known to have had two daughters, one named Anneke and another whose name has not been preserved and who seems to have suffered from intellectual disability.

He seems to have spent part of his youth in Flanders and there begun to learn his trade as an artist. He probably worked in the workshop of tapestry weaver Pasquier Grenier in Tournai, where he learnt to work on art objects of a large scale. In the early 1460s he settled in Lübeck, where he would continue to live for the larger part of his life, although he would also intermittently live in Sweden and frequently traveled to cities around the Baltic Sea. He is mentioned in written sources for the first time by the city council of Lübeck in 1467. In 1479 he acquired a stone house on Breite Strasse, a prestigious adress in Lübeck. He was in Stockholm for a prolonged period 1491 – 1497, during which time he for three years held the office of mint master of the realm in Sweden, but he left the city after the end of the regency of Sten Sture the Elder. After 1497 he lived in Lübeck until his death in 1509. In 1505 he acquired the title of Werkmeister at the Church of Saint Peter.

Work

Artistic range

Medieval art differed from contemporary art in several ways, not least in that while modern artists often work in private studios, medieval art was a communal undertaking in a workshop. This was also the case with Bernt Notke, who was the head of such a workshop. During renovation of the large triumphal cross made by Notke in 1470-77, a note signed by Notke and five co-workers was discovered in a hollow part of one of the sculptures. It lists, apart from Notke himself, a a carpenter, a painter and three other artisans. The question whether Notke was first and foremost a painter, a woodworker or simply main organiser and entrepreneur is not clear. He was called "painter" by the city council of Lübeck in a document from 1467. He and his workshop produced art in the form of tapestries, wooden sculptures, and paintings. The main type of artwork produced by the workshop of Bernt Notke was altarpieces, incorporating both sculptures and painting. Encyclopædia Britannica claims that he was also active as an engraver, but this claim is not found in other sources.

Works by Notke

Lübeck Danse Macabre

It has been pointed out that already the first work known to have been made by Notke (between 1463 – 1466) is of unusual character: it was a 2 metres (6.6 ft) high and at least 26 metres (85 ft) long tapestry depicting the popular late medieval motif of the Danse Macabre (the dance of Death), made for a chapel of St. Mary's Church in Lübeck. It was lost or destroyed but survived in the form of a copy, made in 1701, until 1943, when it was destroyed during the allied bombing of Lübeck in World War II.

Tallinn Danse Macabre

Main article: Danse Macabre (Notke)

A second Danse Macabre, made at approximately the same time as the one in Lübeck, survives in part (c. 7 metres (23 ft)) Tallinn (Estonia), in St. Nicholas' Church. It has been suggested that the fragment in Tallinn may have been a piece cut out from the Lübeck Danse Macabre, but this is not certain. Regardless, both display the characteristic vivid expressionism that would become characteristic for Notke.

Danse Macabre at the St. Nicholas' Church, Tallinn, Estonia

Lübeck triumphal cross

In 1470 – 1478, Notke executed a very large sculpture group, a so-called triumphal cross (in English sometimes referred to as a rood) for display in Lübeck Cathedral. It consists of a total of 72 sculptures and is made of oak wood; dendrochronology has confirmed that the wood comes from oak trees felled near Lübeck c. 1470. The ensemble has been praised for its realism, monumentality and expressiveness. The patron ordering the art-piece was bishop Albert Krummedik. Notke and his workshop also executed an elaborate gallery in Lübeck Cathedral, ordered by the mayor of Lübeck de.

Aarhus Cathedral altarpiece

In 1479 the altarpiece of Aarhus Cathedral in Denmark was inaugurated, another monumental work from Notke's workshop. With its 12 metres (39 ft) of height, it was at the time the largest altarpiece in the Nordic countries. It consists of a large number of sculptures, where the central panel contains three large, dominating sculptures of Saint Anne, John the Baptist and Pope Clement I. The altarpiece is signed by Bernt Notke in three places. Influences from the early Northern Renaissance that began to spread from the Low Countries at this time can be traced in the realistic portraiture of some of the sculptures.

High Altar in the Tallinn Church of the Holy Ghost

Another lavish altarpiece made by Notke is that of the Church of the Holy Ghost in Tallinn (Estonia), finished in 1483. It can be safely attributed to Notke also due to the fact that several letters by his hand have been preserved, in which he asks for the delayed payment for the altarpiece. The altarpiece is considerably more modest at a height of 3.5 metres (11 ft), but it is significant in that it is the earliest altarpiece in the Baltic region where the central panel is not a formal line of saints but rather depicts a biblical scen, in this case the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and Mary. Ít is the only of Notke's altarpieces that still retains the original paint and colour.

Saint George and the Dragon

Main article: Saint George and the Dragon (Notke)

Arguably the most famous sculpture by Notke is a depiction of Saint George and the Dragon for Storkyrkan (the main church) in Stockholm. The statue had been commissioned by the Swedish regent Sten Sture the Elder, to commemorate Sture's victory over King Christian I of Denmark in the 1471 Battle of Brunkeberg. There is an exact copy of the sculpture in St. Catherine's Church in [[Lübec

Works previously attributed to Notke

Previously, an altarpiece in Trondenes Church near Harstad in Norway (the world's northernmost medieval church) was attributed to Notke, but the attribution has later been called into doubt.

Gallery

• 
  Århus Domkirke, Denmark
• 
  middle section of "Århustavlen", Denmark
• 
  St. George and the Dragon in Stockholms Storkyrkan Sweden
• 
  The High Altar in the Church of the Holy Ghost in Tallinn Estonia

Further reading

• Hans Georg Gmelin. "Notke, Bernt." In Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online, (accessed January 11, 2012).(subscription required)
• Kerstin Petermann: Bernt Notke. Arbeitsweise und Werkstattorganisation im späten Mittelalter. Berlin: Reimer 2000, ISBN 3-496-01217-X.

External links

• Media related to Bernt Notke at Wikimedia Commons
• Entry for Bernt Notke on the Union List of Artist Names