MASTER OF GUEBWILLER (active in Guebwiller, Mulhouse and Basel in the late 15th century) Christ on the Mount of Olives c. 1490 Oil on wood 9.1 x 28.2 cm. Expert assessment Prof. Otto Fischer, Kunstmuseum, Basel (7 December 1936) Mr Ludwig Meyer, Munich 2012 Mr René Millet, Paris 2019 Provenance Fritz Stöcklin Collection, Kunsthandel, Basel (1936–46) Dr Georg Heinirch Thommen Collection, Bern This painting depicts a scene from the Gospel according to Saint Luke. (22:39–46): ‘Jesus went out to the Mount of Olives, as was his custom, and his disciples followed him. When he arrived there, he said to them, “Pray, so that you may not fall into temptation.”’ Then he withdrew a stone’s throw or so. Kneeling down, he prayed: ‘Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; yet not my will, but yours be done’. Then, from heaven, an angel appeared to him, comforting him.’ Occupying the centre of the composition, Christ is kneeling in prayer, facing the little angel holding the chalice of his passion, a direct allusion to the blood he is about to shed during his imminent suffering on the cross. Below, three of his disciples—Peter, John and James the Less—have fallen asleep whilst keeping watch, in curled-up positions that reveal their futile struggle against sleep. Finally, in the background, the figure of the disciple Judas can be seen leading the Roman soldiers, whose helmets and spears are visible behind him. Dressed in yellow, as tradition dictates, this traitor advances cautiously whilst lifting his tunic, whose purplish shadows blend delicately with the yellow of the tunic. The tiered composition is condensed within a narrow space. The landscape is suggested with great economy of means, large grey rocks separating the planes. Whilst the facial features may seem somewhat naïve, the rich colour palette with its subtle gradations, as well as the light that sculpts the drapery with its sharp folds, reveal great mastery. True to tradition, this scene formed part of an altarpiece depicting the Passion of Christ, usually divided into around ten sequences. THE REDISCOVERY OF A MASTER In terms of style and technique, this work belongs to the late Alsatian Gothic period of the late 15th century, but very few works by its artist, who hailed from the town of Guebwiller (Haut-Rhin), have survived. Indeed, this artist, as evidenced by his vivid colour palette as well as his facial types and the poses of his figures, was probably a pupil of the Master of the Karlsruhe Passion, a great Strasbourg master active in the 1430s–50s, whose strong influence is evident. His major work, the altarpiece depicting the Passion of Christ, intended for St Thomas’s Church in Strasbourg, is now partly preserved at the Staatliche Kunsthalle in Karlsruhe. However, the panel depicting Christ on the Mount of Olives offers a composition quite different from that work. Conversely, the altarpiece bears strong resemblances to the ‘Christ on the Mount of Olives’, engraved by Martin Schongauer (1450?–1491), who is said to have based it on his painting, attesting to his renown at the time. It was thus in this creative and vibrant Alsatian milieu, at the turn of the century and gripped by the ideas of ‘modern devotion’ heralding the Reformation, that the Master of Guebwiller developed his art. His work, prized for its rarity, already foreshadows, through its expressiveness, the work of Matthias Grünewald (c. 1475 – 1528), who would go on to create his famous altarpiece 20 years later in Issenheim, a neighbouring town to Guebwiller…