Südtirol ca. 1510
A South Tyrolean carved Swiss pine wood high-relief group of Anna Selbdritt, circa 1510.
With older, possibly original, polychromy. St. Anne is shown seated on a broad, block-like bench facing the beholder. She wears a white veil and a simple, floor-length gown. The dark red cloak worn over her left shoulder lies draped across her body and drawn over her knees where it falls in a rich interplay of thick vertical and compressed folds. The Virgin stands next to Her mother, and St. Anne embraces Her with her left arm whilst Mary in turn reaches out towards the Christ Child who is shown seated on His Grandmother’s lap. The drapery of the Virgin’s gown corresponds closely to that of St. Anne’s cloak, lending a harmonic impression to the entire composition.
Both the overall design and details of this work, such as the facial features, display direct parallels to another Anna Selbdritt group from South Tyrol (possibly Meran) made in around 1510 - a work closely related to those of the painting and sculpture workshop of Hans Schnatterpeck in Meran and of Matheis Stöberl in Sterzing.
Both hands and one arm of the Child missing. Crack in the shoulder of the figure of Saint Anne. Wear to the plinth. 46 x 47 x 15 cm.
Literature
For comparable sculptures cf. exhibition catalouge "Sculptures allemandes de la fin du Moyen Age dans les collections publiques francaises 1400-1530," Musée du Louvre, Paris 1991, p. 167-170, cat. no. 41, illustrated.