The extraordinary differences between two altarpieces from the mid-fifteenth century and Matthias Grünewald’s Isenheim Altarpiece from the 1510s

At the Unterlinden Museum in Colmar yesterday, I also saw two altarpieces that predate Matthias Grünewald's Isenheim Altar from 1512-1516 by around fifty years: Caspar Isenmann's altarpiece from Saint Martin's Church in Colmar, from 1465, and an unknown artist's altarpiece from Stauffenberg, from 1454-1460 (which was originally also in Isenheim). While both of these works were impressive, the shift in half a century is still extraordinary: in Grünewald's work, the bodies are less stylized, the colors are much more intense, and the paintings have more depth. Perhaps Grünewald was just the better artist, but the differences also mark the new developments in art that were spreading across Europe at the time. (Andrew Shields, #111Words, 13 March 2025)