Collection Online as of June 3, 2023

(German)

Tempera and gold on wood

Framed: 77 x 59.5 x 8 cm (30 5/16 x 23 7/16 x 3 1/8 in.); Unframed: 64.8 x 47.5 cm (25 1/2 x 18 11/16 in.)

Gift of the Friends of The Cleveland Museum of Art 1929.920

Location

111 German and Austrian Gothic

Fun Fact

This is only one panel from what would have been a large altarpiece dedicated to the Virgin.

Description

This panel once formed the left wing of an altarpiece originally located in a Cistercian convent in the German town of Fröndenberg. The Coronation of the Virgin was a common subject; though it is not based on a biblical text it often appeared in medieval books of hours as a focus of contemplation. It represents the culminating event in the life of Mary. Here, Christ and the Virgin are housed in an architectural setting; the Virgin kneels before Christ as he crowns her in the company of a group of angels. The color palette is particularly rich: pink, deep red, blue, and a delicate green as well as large areas of gold leaf. The well-developed, proportional figures, modeled drapery, and detailed architectural throne suggest an artist with a high level of experience and sophistication.

Master of the Fröndenberg Altarpiece

The artist is named for the former high altar of the Cistercian convent at Fröndenberg on the Ruhr, of which a panel in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art formed a part. He was active in Westphalia in the early 1400s.

Provenance

c. 1410

Cistercian Convent, Fröndenberg, Germany

1853

Haindorf Collection, Münster, Germany

1879

Loeb, Haus Caldenhof near Hamm, Germany

June 8, 1929

(Sale: Rudolph Lepke, Berlin, Germany, June 8, 1929, no. 2)

-1929

(A. S. Drey, Munich, Germany, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

1929-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Lübke, Wilhelm. Die mittelalterliche Kunst in Westfalen [Textbd.]. [Textbd.]. 1853. 344

Katalog zur Austellung westfälischer Alterthümer u. Kunssterzeugnisse vom Vereine für Geschichte und Alterthumskunde Westfalens im Juni 1879 zu Munster. Münster: Dr. der Theissing'sthen Buchhandlung, 1879. cat. no. 1446

Nordhoff, J.B. "Die Soester Malerei unter Meister Conrad," Bonner Jahrbucher LXVII (1879). 126

Vogeler, and Albert Ludorff. Die Bau- und Kunstdenkmäler von Westfalen. 16, 16. Münster in Westfalen: Schöningh, 1905. 148

Burger, Fritz, and H. Beth Schitz. Die deutsche Malerei der Renaissance. Leipzig: [s.n.], 1917. 400

Hoelker, Carl. Meister Conrad von Soest und seine Bedeutung für die norddeutsche Malerei in der ersten Halfte des 15. Jahrhunderts. 1921. p. 44

Rudolph Lepke's Kunst-Auctions-Haus. Altdeutsche und altniederländische Tafelgemälde. 1929. no. 2

W. M. M. “‘Coronation of the Virgin,’ by Conrad Von Soest: Fourth Gift of the Friends of the Cleveland Museum of Art.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 17, no. 2 (1930). pp. 19-22 www.jstor.org

Nissen, Robert, "Der Meister des Frondenberger Altares," Westfalen XVI (1931). pp. 62-5

Stange, Alfred. Deutsche Malerei der Gotik. Berlin: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 1934. 1938: pp. 35-37, fig. 36

Tietze, Hans. Meisterwerke europäischer Malerei in Amerika, mit über 300 Kupfertiefdrucktafeln. Wien: Phaidon-Verlag, 1935. pl. 195

Cleveland Museum of Art. Catalogue of the Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition of the Cleveland Museum of Art: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition : June Twenty-Sixth to October Fourth 1936. [Cleveland, Ohio]: [Cleveland Museum of Art], 1936. cat. no. 210, pl. XLI

Kuhn, Charles Louis, and Arthur Burkhard. A Catalogue of German Paintings of the Middle Ages and Renaissance in American Collections. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1936. no. 62

Tietze, Hans. Masterpieces of European Painting in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1939. p. 195

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Arts of the Middle Ages, 1000-1400: A Loan Exhibition : February 17 to March 24, 1940, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts. [Boston]: [Verlag nicht ermittelbar], 1940. cat. no. 77

Paintings in the Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1945. Reproduced: p. [2] archive.org

Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte der Stadt Dortmund. Conrad von Soest und sein Kreis: Ausstellung. Dortmund: The Museum, 1950. ca. no. 79

Rensing, Theodor. "Ratsel um Konrad von Soest," Westfalen XXVIII (1950). 164

Francis, Henry S. "Early German Painting in the Cleveland Museum of Art," American German Review XXI/2 (1954-1955). p. 8

The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 456 archive.org

Muhlberg, Fried. Bau- und Kunstdenkmalervon Westfalen, 47 Bd. Kreis Unna. (1959). 138

“Gothic Art 1360-1440.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 50, no. 7 (1963). cat. no. 51 www.jstor.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 66 archive.org

Troescher, George. Burgundische Malerei. Berlin: Mann, 1966. I, 64; II, pl. 59, fig. 176

Stange, Alfred. Kritisches Verzeichnis der deutschen Tafelbilder vor Dürer. (München): Bruckmann, 1967. 143, no. 461

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 66 archive.org

Wixom, William D. “An Enthroned Madonna with the Writing Christ Child.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 57, no. 9 (1970) 297, fig. 23 www.jstor.org

Cleveland Museum of Art. European Paintings Before 1500. Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974. pp. 27-29, cat no. 10

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 74 archive.org

Meister des Fröndenberger Altares, Jürgen Reissner, and Gerhard Lemke. Der Marienaltar in der Stiftskirche zu Fröndenberg. Fröndenberg: Evangelische Kirchengemeinde Fröndenberg und Bausenhagen, 2002. Fig. 11, p. 52

Köllermann, Antje-Fee, and Christine Unsinn. Die Goldene Tafel aus Lüneburg: Akten des wissenschaftlichen Kolloqiums - Ergebnisband des Forschungsprojektes. Petersberg : Michael Imhof Verlag, 2021. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 149, fig. 35

Reissner, Jürgen, and Conrad. Der Fröndenberger Flügelaltar: das Frühwerk des Conrad von Soest : eine Einordnung in sein Werk. Fröndenberg: Stadt Fröndenberg/Ruhr, 2004. p. 41

Exhibition history

Austellung westfälischer Alterthümer und Kunsterzeutnisse, Collegium Ludgerianum, Münster Germany (June 1879).

Art of the Middle Ages, 1000-1400, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, MA (February 17 to March 24, 1940).

Conrad von Soest und Sein Kreis, Museum fur Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Dortmund, Germany (July-September, 1950).

The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 26-October 4, 1936).

The Silver Jubilee Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 23-September 28, 1941).

Gothic Art 1360-1440. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 6-September 15, 1963).