Master of Liesborn
( fl Liesborn, nr Lippstadt, c. 146090). German painter. He is named after an altarpiece in the Benedictine monastery of Liesborn. In 1465 Abbot Heinrich von Cleve (d 1490) dedicated five altars there, including the high altar, for which he subsequently commissioned a painted altarpiece. In the 18th century it was removed and dismantled, and in 1804, following secularization of the monastery, 14 parts were dispersed (ex-priv. cols; London, N.G.; Münster, Westfäl. Landesmus.; Münster, Westfäl. Kstver.). Reconstruction from fragments and from two scenes that are still intact reveals that it was a fixed altarpiece, with no wings, showing the Crucifixion (centre), with saints on either beneath the cross; above the saints heads were four angels catching the blood of Christ. The remaining side sections show the Annunciation, the Adoration of the Infant Jesus, the Adoration of the Magi and the Presentation in the Temple. As the standing saints are positioned supposedly in the Cologne tradition, the work has been thought to come from Cologne; however, the choice of picture did not originate with the artist but with Abbot Heinrich von Cleve, and its emphasis on the sacrifice made by Christ as giving meaning to the Mass accords with texts belonging to the Bursfeld Benedictine congregation.
Part of the Masters, anonymous, and monogrammists family
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