Hesse: The Meyer Madonna

Next month, The Portland Art Museum is the exclusive venue for the first public presentation of the artistic wealth of the house of Hesse.
The exhibit will include The Holbein Madonna, painted for the burgomeister of Basel Meyer von Hasen, in 1526. It will leave
Germany for the first time in more than 150 years.

Holbein's Madonna, also referred to as the Meyer Madonna, is considered to be one of the great masterpieces of European Art. I
decided to do a little discovery work to learn more about this painting before it arrives in town next month.

The Artist:
Flemish painter, Hans Holbein the Younger (c. 1497-1543).
Holbein's specialty was portraiture. His talents also included a strong sense of composition, subtle linear patterning, and a marvelous sensitivity to color.

Holbein was both in education and career, a cosmopolitan. At the early age of 16, after training by his father, he went traveling with his brother Ambrosius. He is first mentioned in 1515 in Basel, where he entered the workshop of Hans Herbster. His first public commissions were carried out in Lucerne in 1517. In 1519, Holbein became a member of the painters guild in Basel, and in 1520 received a citizenship of Basel. His artistic life may be divided into 4 periods. He worked in Basel, Lucerne, and Zurich from 1515 to 1526. From 1526 to 1528 he was in London, but returned to Basel for the next four years. From 1532 he was again in London and died there of the plague in 1543.

His observation of detail, psychological penetration of his sitters and superb handling of color made him the greatest portrait painter of German art.

The Period:
Northern artists of the 16th Century were deeply influenced by the Italian Renaissance, in particular, the Venetians who painted rich colors in oil. Holbein's composition connects to the High Renaissance by the use of pyramidal composition, which adds stability and monumentality to the piece. The Protestant Reformation was also underway, so it was uncommon for Holbein to receive a commission that dealt with religious subject matter in a time when 'everyday life' scenes had begun to emerge. Didactic art, rich with detail and symbolism were favored by the middle class merchants who were buying private commissions. Guttenberg's Printing Press was also invented, altering the entire Reformation by allowing mass production of the Bible, further reinforcing Protestants core belief that they did not need a rich pope and priests to interpret it for them.

The Donor:
Jacob Meyer, businessman and Burgomaster of Basel, he was elected to the office on June 24, 1516. In 1521, he was impeached for a larger bribe from the French than was permitted, imprisoned when he protested at this treatment and barred from office thereafter. He remained a Catholic after the city’s secession to the reformed religion and led the Catholic party in the city. Dorothea Kannengiesser was the second wife of Jacob Meyer.

The Meyer or Darmstadt Madonna is the last, most famous and most effective of Holbein’s great religious works. This is a Schulzmantelbild (a Virgin of Pity painting), in which the donor, Jacob Meyer, appeals to divine protection for himself and his family. On the right are his wives – enwrapped profile of his first, Magdalena Baer (who died in 1511) and Dorothea Kannengiesser. Before them kneels Anna, the only surviving child. A friend of Holbein’s, one Magdalena Offenburg, posed for the Madonna. She also posed for the Lais. The commission for the painting was the result of the death of  Meyer’s two sons during Holbein’s first English absence, and Meyer decided to include all members of his family, living and dead.

Symbolism:
The Virgin by her intercession can win the mercy of the Father. What such a figure represents is benign, protecting power of destiny. Holbein depicts the Madonna as a cloaked figure enthroned by the architectural shell, which symbolizes the womb, divine space, and femininty. The golden crown she wears is a symbol of sovereignty. The Child's twisting body emphasizes the weight the Madonna's arms must carry.

In the News:
"The Art Newspaper reported that Prince Donatus has decided to put the Holbein Madonna up for sale in order to pay a DM25 million inheritance tax after the death of the last of the southern branch of the family, Margaret von Hesse, and the consequent merger of all of the family holdings with the northern Cassel branch of the family.

The paper estimated that on the open market it could be worth $100 million, although according to law it will have to stay within Germany."
-David Patrick Columbia's New York Social Diary

Resources: Portland Art Museum, Gardner's Art Through the Ages, Web Gallery of Art.