retable Heller

Dürer's great altarpiece for a Frankfurt merchant burned in 1729, yet its story survives in a faithful copy, scattered wings and one of the most famous drawings in the world.

The story behind the painting

The Heller Altarpiece was a triptych painted in oil on panel between 1507 and 1509, commissioned by the Frankfurt merchant Jakob Heller for the city's Dominican church. Dürer painted the central panel himself; the inner side panels were made by his workshop from his drawings, and the outer panels involved the young Matthias Grünewald. In 1615 the central panel was sold to Maximilian I of Bavaria, and the Dürer copyist Jobst Harrich painted a replacement for the high altar. The original was destroyed by a fire in Munich in 1729. Sources differ on locations: Wikipedia places Harrich's copy in the Städel and the side panels in Karlsruhe, while Wikidata lists the Historical Museum Frankfurt and the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe.

What to look for

The central panel showed the Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin. Mary is crowned by the Holy Trinity, with Christ at the right, God the Father at the centre and the dove of the Holy Spirit above, all surrounded by a crowd of cherubs. Below, around the empty tomb, the apostles look up in astonishment. In the background Dürer added himself, beside a tablet with his signature and the date. On the inner wings, the Martyrdom of Saint James appears above Jakob Heller kneeling with his arms, and the Martyrdom of Saint Catherine above his wife, Katharina von Melem. The outer wings, painted in grisaille, showed eight saints.

Meaning and intent

The altarpiece is a family prayer as well as a public one. The saints on the wings were chosen to match the donors' names, James for Jakob and Catherine for Katharina, so that each patron kneels beneath a heavenly protector. The central scene joins earth and heaven: the apostles' wonder at the empty tomb rises toward Mary's crowning. The design was perhaps inspired by Raphael's Oddi Altarpiece, though it is unknown whether Dürer saw it in Perugia or knew it from prints or drawings. By painting himself into the scene, Dürer also left a quiet signature of his own presence.

Legacy

Though the central panel is lost, the work lives on in surprising ways. The famous drawing of two praying hands, now in the Albertina in Vienna, is a study for one of the apostles in the central panel. On the outer wings, one grey saint, Saint Lawrence, is signed MGN, a trace of Grünewald's early hand. The side shutters were detached in the eighteenth century, and their panels separated in 1804. Through Harrich's copy, the scattered wings and that drawing of hands, visitors can still piece together a masterpiece that fire took away.