Wing of an altarpiece for Pfarrkirche St. Mauritius, Stein: Saints Barbara and Valentine with Kaspar von Laubenberg and Sons

Artist Unknown

Datecirca 1450

MediumTempera and oil on panel

Dimensions45 1/2 x 20 in. (115.6 x 50.8 cm)
Frame: 50 1/2 x 24 7/8 in. (128.3 x 63.2 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the State of North Carolina

Object number52.9.142

On View

Not on view

Label TextAround 1450 Kaspar von Laubenberg and his wife Anna von Freiberg, residents of Stein im Algaü, Immenstadt, a town in southern Bavaria (Germany), commissioned a pair of altarpieces for two family chapels. One chapel was located inside their castle (Laubenbergerstein Castle) and the other in the nearby parish church (Pfarrkirche St. Mauritius). The present paintings are the hinged wings from the altarpiece designed for the church.

According to a 1629 description, the central panel likely contained sculpted figures of the Virgin with saints George and Leonard.
[L. Humphrey, 2023]

These panels (52.9.142 and 52.9.143) originally formed the two side panels of an altarpiece commissioned by the Von Laubenberg family for their private chapel. In both pictures, members of the family kneel in prayer before their saints. To separate the donors from the saints, the family members are represented on a vastly different scale. Each of the four saints can be identified through a symbol: Catherine has a sword and wheel; Vitus stands beside a cauldron which refers to his torture, as he was boiled in lead and pitch by his enemies before being rescued by an angel; Barbara holds a book and chalice; and Valentine has an invalid at his feet, for he was the patron saint of the infirm.
[D. Weller, ca. 2013]Published ReferencesW. R. Valentiner, Catalogue of Paintings: Including Three Sets of Tapestries (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1956), no. 172.

Alfred Stange, "Zwei allgäuische Altarflügel in Raleigh, USA," Das schöne Allgäu 26, no. 1 (March 1963), 25-28.

Justus Bier, "Zwei Gotische Altarflügel aus dem Allgäu im Kunstmuseum des Staates Nordkarolina," Allgäuer Geschichtsfreund, no. 74.

Justus Bier, "Two Gothic Altarwings in Raleigh," North Carolina Museum of Art Bulletin 11, no. 4 (Spring 1973), 2-19, illus. (b-w) 4, details (b-w) 6, 12. (Translation of above article.)

Edgar Peters Bowron, ed., Introduction to the Collections (Chapel Hill: published for the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, by The University of North Carolina Press, 1983), illus. (b-w) 164.

Bolker Dötterweich, von erausgegeben, Karl Filser, Pankraz Fried, Gunther Gottleib, Wolfgang Haberl und Gerhard Weber, Geschichte der Stadt Kampten (Kempten: Dannheimer, 1989), 160, illus. pl. 17 following 160.

Donald W. Patterson, "State's art museum tries to do the right thing," Greensboro: The News and Record (December 29, 1991), illus. B1 and B3.

Robin Cembalest, "Back to Immenstadt," Art News 91, (February 1992), 28, illus.

Cynthia Bickley-Green, Art Elements: Biological, Global, and Interdisciplinary Foundations (textbook) (Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt, 2011), mentioned and illus. (b-w) 82.
Exhibition HistoryAtlanta, GA, High Museum of Art, "Exhibition of European and American Masterpieces loaned by E. and A. Silberman Galleries," January 2-25, 1949, listed in catalogue, unpaginated.

Atlanta, GA, High Museum of Art, "Portraits and Costumes," January 14-February 11, 1951.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, Mary Duke Biddle Education Gallery, "Facets of Faces: Functions of Portraits," September 1, 1989-June 1, 1990.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Together Forever: Pendant Portraits from the Permanent Collection," April 18-September 26, 1999. (Closing date extended to October 10, 1999)

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–June 26, 2023. Object Rights Statement

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