Sculptor, and painter(?) From Reichenhofen (Allgaeu). More Germans than Flemish artists seem to have been faced with commissions involving both painted and carved sections. The head of the workshop might be someone more like a producer, who would be responsible for assigning certain tasks within the shop, and contracting others out. We know for a fact that Multscher made sculpture both in stone and in wood, and that at least two of his altarpieces had painted wings. Unfortunately the painted wings in those two cases are not by the same painter. Was one of those painters Multscher, and the other one somebody else? Or did Multscher farm out both sets of wings to two different painters? We don't know.
The documents:
1427 - Multscher becomes a tax-free citizen of Ulm. Marries Adelheid Kitzin, daughter of a local sculptor.
1429 - The sstone Man of Sorrows (life-sized) above the west door to the Ulm cathedral
1433 - His name is inscribed on the Karg Altar, also in Ulm's cathedral . Virtually nothing remains of this altar except the inscription, the sculpture
(which would have been stone) having been destroyed by iconoclasts in 1531.1437 - The Wurzach Altar, signed by Multscher and dated on one of the painted wings (Berlin, Gemaeldegalerie).
1456 - The contract for the Sterzing Altar. (Multscher did only the sculpture for this., which was the high altar for the parish church in Sterzing
(Vipiteno, South Tyrol). The altar was dismantled in 1779. Pieces of it are in the Museo Multscher, Sterzing; the Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck;
the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich.1467 - Dies, before March 13.
The Wurzach Altarpiece, 1437 (Berlin)
Only the painted parts remain (Berlin), although it seems probable that the stone Landsberg Madonna and Child may have formed part of the missing central shrine. The sinister wing (on right, at bottom) is signed:
"Bitte Gott fuer Hansen Mulstcher von Reichenhofen, buerger zu Ulm, hat das werk gemacht, da man zaehlt 1437."
The paintings consist of 4 Passion scenes and 4 scenes from the life of Mary, and are characterized by a new sense of realism–-large, peasant-like muscular figures with big hands and feet, broad chests, low foreheads, arms having joints from which slow movement comes. The emphasis is on plastic form, rather than on contour and rhythm. Garments don't swing into curves any more, but fall stiffly from the body. Strenuous attempts at foreshortening are made. Colors now imply volume and weight, and are not decorative: much use of earth colors (cheap). Unrelenting ugliness, and in some cases violent action.The Nativity
The Madonna kneels, facing the manger, with her back to Joseph and the shepherds, in the posture of a priest at the altar.
Joseph kneels behind her, like an acolyte. In a niche on the stable wall are a basket of bread and a pitcher, presumably containing wine-–the elements of the eucharist. Also furthering the reference to the Christian church service is the wooden fence which separates the Holy Family from a large crowd of spectators who seem to kneel like parishioners at the altar rail who are waiting to receive the consecrated bread of the Mass.Adoration of the Magi
The Madonnas in both of the Adoration and Nativity are singularly unbeautiful, with large features and prominent ears-–physically resembling the Landsberg Madonna.Christ on the Mount of Olives
An ungainly Judas leads the soldiers into the fenced Garden of Gethsemane, where a huge and greatly troubled Christ is kneeling in prayer.Christ before Pilate
Despite the advice of his wife, who attempts to interfere on Christ's behalf, Pilate washed his hands of the case, thus allowing the crucifixion of Christ to proceed. A singularly ugly High Priest stands snarling at one side as a short, rude Roman soldier in a tin-pot helmet has charge of the prisoner.Christ Bearing the Cross
Memorable features of this public humiliation of Christ include the small boys picking up stones to heave at Him; the rude soldier elbowing the Holy Women out of the way, and the workman at the head of the procession carrying a basket containing a hammer and nails.The Resurrection
By all odds the most memorable of the paintings. An enormous, muscular Christ has been resurrected, all but one leg. It is the Germanic "mystic osmosis" whereby the tomb remains sealed, but the fact that such a substantial Christ could have de-materialized Himself to pass through solid stone seems somehow even more miraculous that it appeared to be in Bohemian painting, where Christ was so slender and weightless that He simply floated out of the sarcophagus.The Pentecost
Mary is seated in the center of the group of Apostles as they receive the gift of "speaking in tongues" from the Holy Spirit, who appears as usual in the form of a white dove. The Apostles seated in the foreground with their backs to us are tonsured, indicating their priestly status as they prepare to become Christian missionaries in foreign lands.The Death of Mary
The inscription wih the artist's name and date appear beneath this painting. A strenuous attempt to foreshorten the Virgin's room has resulted in a triangular space behind the bed. Solicitous Apostles attend the dying woman, who is receiving the Last Rites.