Tilman Riemenschneider’s unique sculptural vocabulary is clearly recognizable in the carving of this poignant figure of the grieving Saint John. Arguably the preeminent.mes dieval German sculptor, his distinctive manner of representing facial features (almond-shaped, down-turned eyes emphasized with thin lines on the lids, aquiline nose, diminutive, pursed lips and dimpled, pointed chin) combined with the authentic treatment of the skin incised with fine creases, are all a leitmotif of Riemenschneider's distinctive style of carving. The combination of compositional details, including the multiple diagonals created by deep folds in John’s mantle, the gentle tilt of the Saint's head, the shift of weight to his left leg, and the use of opulent, open curls of hair framing his youthful visage create a sense of sculptural mass and movement.

The larger forms of the drapery enveloping this figure are typical of the master’s earlier works, a detail which is often attributed to his years of training in the Upper Rhine and Strasbourg. As Krohm discusses in the Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition in 1999 (op. cit.), we find figural types in Riemenschneider’s sculpture that can be traced to the works of Niclaus Gerhaert, who worked in Strasbourg, which at that t.mes was the most important center for sculpture in Southern Germany next to Ulm. Specifically, the cascade of deep folds down Saint John’s proper left side is echoed in other early sculptures by Riemenschneider and his workshop; the draperies protrude and recede. The folds of the generous mantle, the long diagonal line of drapery across the figure and the bunching of the drapery along one side is also seen in his alabaster Saint Barbara, circa 1485-90 (Chapuis, op. cit., cat. no.4), his Saint John the Baptist, circa 1490, from Hassfurt (Chapuis, op. cit., fig. 1) and his female Saint from the North Carolina Museum of Art, circa 1490 (Chapuis, op. cit., cat. no.10).

Fig. 1 Tilman Riemenschneider and Workshop, detail of Saint John, painted limewood, 1495-1531. Church of Saint Laurentius, Heidingsfeld.

Clearly, this figure of Saint John was carved for an altar upon which the youthful disciple, and a figure of the Virgin slightly inclined to the right, flanked the crucified Christ. John’s pathos is palpable as he quietly raises his right hand, covered by the weighty mantle, to wipe away his tears. A similar gesture is also seen in the wood figure of Saint John from an archway in Heidingsfeld (fig. 1).

In the present sculpture, however, the Saint supports his right elbow with his left hand in a common gesture of mourning, often seen in sculpture from antiquity. This position of the arms was also employed in the figure of Mary on the far right of Riemenschneider's Lamentation group from Grossostheim, circa 1510. Furthermore, this composition recalls the carving of several figures from one of the groups made for the Passion altarpiece for a church in Rothenburg, circa 1485-90, now in the Bayerisches National Museum, Munich. Originally flanking a Crucifixion, the figures in the Munich group similarly reveal profound sorrow. The mourning woman in the back wipes her eyes with her mantle and the sculptor uses long diagonal folds and smaller curves of drapery to provide a sense of movement and animation.

Fig. 2 Tilman Riemenschneider, detail of a mourning figure from a Passion altarpiece, polychrome limewood, circa 1485-90. Bayerisches National Museum, Munich, inv. No. 94/631.

This Saint John's eyes are downward-sloping, emphasized by his protruding brow bone covered with a fold of skin above the lid. This creates a contrast of light and shadow, further intensifying the sense of overwhelming grief. These details are also evident in the face of Mary from one of the Munich Passion groups (fig. 2).

Riemenschneider's workshop added one or more creases under the eyes, depending on the age of the subject. Michael Baxandall discusses the master’s manipulation of eyes in his sculptures to accommodate the changing position of the viewer. The eyes are often assyMetricas l, as in the present sculpture and the Mary in fig. 2, to achieve the correct appearance when viewed from different angles. The touches of black pigment in St. John's irises and the red in his lips, a typical practice of the workshop, convey a greater sense of realism.

Few sculptures by Riemenschneider and his workshop remain in private hands. Stylistic analogies between the present figure of Saint John and other established works by Riemenschneider and his workshop place it firmly within the master’s oeuvre.

RELATED LITERATURE
Justus Bier, Tilmann Riemenschneider. Die Frühen Werke, Würzburg, 1925;
Justus Bier, The Sculptures of Tilmann Riemenschneider, The North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, 1962;
Justus Bier, Tilmann Riemenschneider. Die späten Werke in Holtz, Vienna, 1978, no. 31;
Justus Bier, Tilmann Riemenschneider. His Life and Work, Kentucky, 1982;
Julien Chapuis (ed.), Tilman Riemenschneider. Master Sculptor of the Late Middle Ages, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC/ The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Washington and New Haven, 1999, cat. no. 43;
Julien Chapuis (ed.), "Tilman Riemenschneider c. 1460-1531," Studies in the History of Art 65, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, Symposium Papers XLII, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., New Haven and London, 2004;
Tilman Reimenschneider-Werke seiner Blütezeit (exh. cat.), Mainfränkischen Museum Würzburg, March 24 - June 13 2004, no. 1, pp. 341-343, no. 71, p. 342, figs. 106, 296, 297.