Dr. Alexander Berg, Frankfurt;
Thenceᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ by inher🐟itance to the present owner, his granddaughter.

Alfred Stange, Deutsche Malerei der Gotik, vol. 7, Berlin 1955 (reprinted Liechtenstein 1969), p. 87, illustrated plates 195, 196 as The Master of the Assumption of the Virgin;
H.A. Lüthy, A. Knoepfli, in Schweizerisches Institut für Kunstwissenschaft, 1963-4, pp. 27ff., as Workshop of the Master of the Hohenlandenberger Altar;
Th. Brachert, in Schweizerisches Institut für Kunstwissenschaft, 1963-4, pp. 37ff.;
H.A. Lüthy, `Zur Werkstatt des Meisters des Hohenlandenberger Altar', in  Schweizerisches Institut für Kunstwissenschaft, 1965 (year 1964), pp. 116-119, reproduced fig.s 2 & 3, as Workshop of the Master of the Hohenlandenberger Altar;
J. Lauts, Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe.  Katalog Alte Meister bis 1800, Karlsruhe 1966, vol. 1, p. 55, under no. 48 a-c, as Workshop of the Master of the Hohenlandenberger Altar, perhaps Matthäus Gutrecht;
H.A. Lüthy, `Eines neues Altarfragment des Meisters des Hohenlandenberger Altars', in Unsere Kunstdenkmäler.  Mitteilungsblatt für die Mitglieder des Gesellschaft für Schweizerische Kunstgeschichte, vol. XX, 1969, pp. 218-224, as The Master of the Hohenlandenberger Altar;
A. Stange, Kritisches Verzeichnis der deutschen Tafelbilder vor Dürer, vol II, Munich 1970, p. 66, Workshop of the Master of the Hohenlandenberger Altar  (Matthäus Gutrecht?);
B. Konrad, `Die Werkstatt des Karlsruher Hohenlandenberg-Altars', in Die Fürstenbergsammlungen Donaueschingen. Altdeutsche und schweizerische Malerei des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts, Munich 1990, p. 46, as Workshop of the Master of the Hohenlandenberger Altar, but followed by a discussion of the various identifications of the hands;
D. Zinke, Augustinermuseum, Gemälde bis 1800, Auswahlkatalog 15. Jahrhundert, Freiburg im Breisgau 1990, p. 63, as  Workshop of the Master of the Hohenlandenberger Altar.

"The following condition report has been provided by Sarah Walden, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. These paintings are on a pine panel, which seems to have remained unusually stable over time, perhaps having stayed in situ or in protective surroundings for centuries. The upper part on both sides is quite remarkably undamaged, and in fact virtually entirely intact. The front of the altarpiece was clearly slightly more shielded than the back, perhaps also having wings that were often kept closed, but even structurally any cracks have not risen far from the base. There has been a recent good restoration, with no wear and careful retouching almost entirely confined to lower areas, and in the case of the Nativity only near the base. The Nativity. The enamelled surface of the paint is calmly intact and beautifully rich, with the raised contours of the denser pigments perfectly preserved for instance in the darker landscape details and in the blue drapery, and the translucent paler colours sometimes showing the underlying drawing or pentimenti, although in general the paint films are rather more even and strong than is sometimes the case at this period. The magnificent punched gold of the background is complete and undamaged, and there is just a small scrape that has been touched out in the Madonna's gold halo. Various cracks have come up a little way from the base, some of them perhaps joints. The longest is a central winding crack, running up through the groin of the Child to the start of the angel's yellow drapery, which has been discreetly retouched. Some other shorter cracks with wider damage near the base run up into the white drapery at the lower left side, into the pink drapery in places, up into the white under robe of the angel on the right and up into the column on the right, and there is quite wide retouching along the base edge and immediate foreground. There is one little patch of surface retouching in the Madonna's blue drapery below her hands but otherwise the upper part of the painting is in exceptionally intact condition, with a few minute cosmetic touches in the face of the Madonna or occasionally elsewhere, rather more little touches in the necks of the ox and the ass near the right edge, and a little patch of older retouching in the background path by the middle of the right side, but no losses or damage. The Kiss of Judas. The upper part of this painting is also in exceptionally good condition, with scarcely any damage, and beautifully intact detail and gilding. There is more damage in the lower half with wider retouching rising up through the central junction between the figures, extending quite broadly into the drapery of Christ beneath His hands and across His arm above, with some in Judas's red drapery, which has been only partially cleaned in the recent restoration. There is a little retouching in the green jerkin of the soldier on the right and in the nearby yellow drapery but essentially the upper part of the painting and all the figures including the crouching soldier to the left are in good condition. The foreground along the base seems to have quite widespread retouched damage with fairly extensive restoration in the green bank at the lower right corner. Despite rather more damage to the lower area of the back of this remarkable panel overall both paintings have survived in an exceptionally pure state. This report was not done under laboratory conditions."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This panel is close in style to a number of others that have been grouped around a triptych known as the Hohenlandenberg Altar, kept in the Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe.[1]  That triptych includes a donor, Bishop Hugo von Hohenlandenberg (1460-1532), Bishop of Constance from 1496, and is charged with his coat-of-arms, and was located in the chapel of Saints Peter and Paul in the Episcopal Residence in Constance until the secularization in 1816.  The anonymous author of the Hohenlandenberg Altar has usually been known as the Master of the Hohenlandenberg Altar, after its donor.  It was formerly suggested that he might be identified as Matthäus Gutrecht, who died in Constance in 1505,[2]  but more recently Bernd Konrad has made a convincing case that he be identified as Michel Haider (active Constance 1479-1516), and this identification is now generally accepted.[3]

Stange was the first to group the present double sided panel with several others, whose author he named The Master of the Assumption of the Virgin after the subject of one of them, even though he noted similarities with the Hohenlandenberg Altar. [4]   They were specifically linked with the Master of the Hohenlandenberg Altar by Lüthy, whose views were summarized by Lauts, when the other panels cited were a Christ before Pilate (Art Market; now Freiburg-im-Breisgau, Augustinermuseum), a Christ Carrying the Cross and a Crucifixion (Gottfried-Keller-Stiftung, Kunsthaus Zurich), as well as the present panel.[5]  In 1969 Lüthy listed six separate works or projects (including The Hohenlandenberg Altar) each made up of several panels or single double-sided panels, with the presumption in most cases of missing panels, that he believed were produced by the Master of the Hohenlandenberg Altar or his Workshop.[6] In doing so he added new works previously not described or linked with this Master, and he split up panels thought previously to have belonged to a larger Passion Cycle.  He listed the present double sided panel and another, depicting the Nativity and Christ before Pilate, in the Augustinermuseum in Freiburg, as the two of the surviving panels from a putative Marian altarpiece or Wandelaltar.  According to his reconstruction, the Wandelaltar had two folding double-sided wings each side, enclosing a presumed wood sculpture.  The present panel formed the upper part of the left inner wing, with an extended section on one side above now missing.  Thus, the Arrest of Christ was the outside part, and the Adoration the inside part.[7] In 1990 Bernd Konrad repeated Lüthy's six groups of works, and added a further six.

Both Lüthy and Konrad suggested that the Zurich panels might ("vielleicht") belong to the same altarpiece.  Recently Ludwig Meyer (written communication) has confirmed that in his view they do, and has also confirmed his opinion that they are all from Michel Haider's own hand, with the qualification that while some, including the present double-sided panel are in good condition, others are damaged, making an accurate assessment of their authorship hazardous.[8]  He believes that a further six scenes painted by other hands in Haider's workshop belong to the same large Wandelaltar of about 1500, which originally consisted of twelve scenes depicted on both sides of six panels (some now divided), all with gold-ground backgrounds of consistent design.[9]  Despite its evident quality, the attribution of the present double-sided panel is nonetheless here qualified, on the basis that it remains unclear who within the Haider family shop was responsible for what.  In the catalogue of the Sammlung Würth (pictures formerly in the Fürstenberg Collection, Donaueschingen, similar works are catalogued as Workshop of Hans Haider, on the basis that the wood sculptor Hans, brother of Michael, was its head.[10]

We are grateful to Ludwig Meyer for his help in writing this note. 

[1] Inv. 48 a-c; see J. Lauts, under Literature, vol. 1, pp. 54-5, reproduced vol. 2, p. 21.
[2] Idem, where all previous literature given.
[3] See B. Konrad, in C. Grimm, B. Konrad, Die Fürstenberg Sammlungen Donaueschingen, Munich 1990, pp. 125-131, under nos. 17-19, reproduced, and in D. Lüdke, Spätmittelalter am Oberrhein.  Maler und Werkstätten 1450-1525, exhibition catalogue, Karlsruhe 2001, pp. 322-3, no. 184.
[4] See under Literature.   1955, Lüthy in 1965 and Lauts in 1966; see under Literature.
[5] See under Literature: Lüthy, 1965 & Lauts 1966.
[6] See Lüthy, 1969, pp. 218-224.  The present and Freiburg panels are no. 3 in his listing.
[7] Idem, pp. 223-4.  The Christ before Pilate is the picture given as Art Market by Lauts
[8] Letter dated 16^th May 2007.
[9]  The other six, from Haider's  Workshop, are: The Flagellation of Christ (Zurich, Kunsthaus; Konrad, 1990, no. 7); The Visitation & The Crowning with Thorns (formerly Sigmaringen, Fürstenburg Collection); The Agony in the Garden, The Angel of the Annunciation & The Virgin Annunciate (Basel, Kunstmuseum).
[10] D. Lüdke, in K. Löcher & D. Lüdke, Alte Meister in der Sammlung Würth, Schwäbisch Hall 2004, pp. 98-111, nos.20꧃-22b, all re💎produced.