Margrave Christopher I of Baden with His Family in Adoration before Saint Anne Selbdritt
Hans Baldung Grien
Description
Margrave Christopher I of Baden had the relatively young Baldung immortalize his large family praying together in harmony. The painter, later a leading representative of the Renaissance in the Upper Rhine region, gathers them together in devout postures around Saint Anne with Mary and Jesus, under whose protection the Margrave seeks to place them. The reality was different: the recent unification of the Margraviate of Baden was in danger of breaking up because two of Christopher’s sons rebelled against the succession laid down by their father. The consequence was the division of the Margraviate in 1533.
500 years of the presence
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Two works belonging to the Kunsthalle, painted at almost the same time, represent different constellations in the early period of the collection: the Markgrafentafel by Hans Baldung Grien and a small folding altar by the Master of Frankfurt. Both feature the triad of Anna Selbdritt, the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne. The buyer in both cases was probably Margrave Christopher I of Baden. However, the ways they arrived in the Baden-Margravial collection were very different.
Client: Pious and Self-Assured
Even the current designation as the “Markgrafentafel” gives it away: Although depicted modestly and humbly at worship, the ruling family of Baden is at least an equal, if not the actual subject of this picture. Christopher, who as head of the family kneels on the men’s left side of the chapel, engaged Hans Baldung Grien, a young up-and-coming painter to create this work. He was not acting as a collector in today’s sense of the word, or as a patron of contemporary art. His primary motive was not pride of ownership, but piety and a ruler’s will to cultivate an image and make a political statement.
Commissions versus the art market
The Margrave’s Painting is exemplary for acquisition practice at the beginning of the modern age. For the form of fine art by contemporary artists that accumulated in European royal houses was to a large extent commissioned works. It was only in the course of the 16th century when an independent art market was very gradually developing that art and artists won free from personal orders. The altarpiece is an example of the earliest beginnings of this development. The unknown artist, who probably worked in Antwerp, obviously ran a prosperous workshop that produced for export. Thus, paintings not only arrived in Frankfurt — which gave the master his name of convenience — but this work probably also arrived in the palace of the margraves during the lifetime of Christopher I.
With the finger on the pulse of demand
With Anna Selbdritt in the centre and Catherine and Barbara on the side panels, the altar presents a selection of the most popular saints of the time. Since it did not make reference to a particular ruling house, the altar could be used for private devotions in any aristocratic or even upper middle-class household. Highly efficient in his re-use of themes and pictorial elements, the Master of Frankfurt created bestsellers that, whether there was an actual commission or not, could pass into the hands of art lovers and in this way enrich collections.
Dates and facts
| Title | Margrave Christopher I of Baden with His Family in Adoration before Saint Anne Selbdritt |
|---|---|
| Artist | Hans Baldung |
| Date | around 1510 |
| Measurements Painting | H 67.4cm W 219.2cm D 2.3cm |
| Material | Coniferous wood |
The Orangerie will remain closed through September 25 due to exhibition renovation work. Starting September 26, we look forward to welcoming you there to our new special exhibition, “Nicolas Daubanes. Le feu intérieur.”
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