(documented 1446–1486/87)
An altarwing with the Death of the Virgin,
oil on panel, 118 x 69 cm, framed

Provenance:
probably collection of Oberregierungsrat Sepp, Munich (see the mount in the photo documentation at the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, Munich);
Private collection, Munich;
Private collection, Germany

Literature:
A. Stange, Deutsche Malerei der Gotik, vol. VIII, Munich-Berlin 1957, p. 42 (as ‘Gehilfe des Meisters der Ulrichslegende‘);
A. Stange, Kritisches Verzeichnis der deutschen Tafelbilder vor Dürer, vol. II, Munich 1970, p. 151, no. 688 (as ‘Augsburger Gehilfe des Meisters der Ulrichslegende’)

We are grateful to Bernd Konrad for suggesting the attribution of the present painting to Hans Murer the Elder. A written certificate (January 2020) is available.

Bernd Konrad writes: ‘The panel presented here was once part of a polyptych (triptych). As it does not show any of the typical gold grounds used at the time it very probably functioned as one of the outer panels on view when the altar was closed. According to the orientation of the praying figure of a donor at the bottom, looking to the right instead of facing the scene proper, our panel must have served as the left wing of the retable in question. It can be assumed that the right outer panel, which is lost, depicted another part of the Death of the Virgin, for the figure of Christ worshipped by the donor, with the small figure of Mary representing her soul, is lacking. This assumption may additionally be strengthened by the fact that not all of the twelve disciples appear in the panel under discussion. On the other hand, it remains to be pointed out that in our context it does not necessarily always have to be the case to include the entire number of the twelve apostles […]. As is known from literature, this Death of the Virgin has been known since 1950 at the latest. The two attributions made by Buchner and Stange are countered by Ludwig Meyer, Archiv für Kunstgeschichte, Munich, with his entry on the photo mount at the Munich Zentralinstitut, as he suggests a tentative attribution to the painter Hans Murer the Elder of Constance […]. The present Death of the Virgin compares particularly well with the works of the Constance-based Murer family of artists: Peter Murer, the master of the Werdenberg Annunciation (circa 1465), and his brother, Hans Murer the Elder, the master of the Mäßlin altarpiece.

In the manner in which the paints are applied here and in terms of the dark outlines, this Death of the Virgin is very close to the Werdenberg retable. The latter work shows an identical treatment of the halos, whereas the drapery folds in the garments are not quite as harsh and angular. Peter Murer, the painter of the Werdenberg retable, designed them in a way that can be described as ‘meandering’, a characteristic feature that led to further attributions to his oeuvre. In Hans Murer’s art, the treatment of the draperies is somewhat softer. Also, the head types of the disciples in the present Death of the Virgin […] correspond more closely to those used by Hans.’

Konrad on the provenance of the present Death of the Virgin: ‘Its former owner, Oberregierungsrat Sepp, a senior official, was in all likelihood a descendant of the historian Johann Nepomuk Sepp (1816–1909), who owned a widely known collection of medieval and Italian painting in Munich. According to family documents, Johann Nepomuk Sepp, the founder of the collection, bought works from the collection of the last Prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen in 1885. As the Death of the Virgin can definitely be assigned to Constance and to Hans Murer the Elder, it might be interesting to know that other works by Hans Murer the Elder on Reichenau Island were acquired by Baron Karl von Mayenfisch (Charles de Mayenfisch-Rappenstein, 1803–1877), a member of the princely household, from the local monastery around 1840 and brought to Sigmaringen, where he held the position of curator of the collection of the Princes of Hohenzollern. His acquisitions entered the princely collection […]. Although I failed to locate the Death of the Virgin in Sigmaringen, its coming from Reichenau Island seems entirely probable to me.’