Hans
Mulcher

Mower Hans (Multscher) (about 1400 - 1467), German sculptor and painter. Worked in Ulm (1427). Style Mulcher developed under the influence of Robert Kampen, Dutch and French sculpture of the Early Renaissance (Klaus Sluter, etc.). Simultaneously with K. Vicem and L. Moser Mower turned to the study of nature, introducing everyday objects in paintings on religious themes, wanted to give his characters individual characteristic by grotesquely expressive facial expressions and gestures (Landsbergis the altar, before it was considered altar of Wurzach. 1437. Picture gallery, Berlin-Dahlem). The desire for individualized specificity of the image is affected in many sculptural works Mulcher ("Christ the sufferer" on the main portal of the Cathedral in Ulm, 1429).

MULCHER, Hans (Multscher, Hans)

OK. 1400, Richenhagen, Württemberg — 1467, Ulm. German sculptor and painter. Representative of the art, the transition from Gothic to Renaissance. In his youth, in the years of wandering, became acquainted with the art of the Netherlands and Burgundy. With 1427 worked in Ulm as a free artist in the service of the city Council. At the beginning of his creative activity studied sculpture, later turned to painting. Created monumental altars with sculptural and picturesque side flaps.

The earliest work Mulcher — decoration statues in the front Windows of Ulm town hall (C. 1427-1430, now Ulm Museum). The ensemble consisted of five figures — Emperor Charlemagne in the center, kings of Hungary and the Czech Republic at the sides (somewhat less than natural size) and lower statues squires at the edges. Predominated in the composition of a statue of the Emperor, she had a calm posture and integrity of a figure, dressed in a long mantle, falling nearly parallel shallow folds.

In the early period of his work Mower performed the model of the tombstone of Duke Ludwig of Bavaria (1435, Munich, State. Bavarian art collection). The iconography of this unusual headstone. Unlike other works of this kind there is no reproduction of the figure of the deceased. On the plate represented the relief image of a kneeling warrior, making the prayer to St. Trinity. Thin plastic terrain study demonstrates the high technical skill of the sculptor.

Further work Mulcher associated with the creation of sculptural and pictorial altars, usually performed for the parish churches of small towns. In the Central sculpture of the master uses for the stone and wood that carves figures of those saints who dedicated the altar. There are two altar pieces, which was led by the Mower. It is Landsbergs the altar (formerly mistakenly called the Altar of Wurzach, 1437, Landsberg, parish Church) and the Altar of Sterzing (1456-1459, now Vipiteno, South Tyrol). Both the altar dedicated to the virgin Mary. In the first case, a statue full of grandeur and Royal dignity, posture relaxed, the dress falls in large folds. The figure of the virgin Mary from Starting more graceful and slender, her face thinner and perfect, it was a spiritual aristocracy. In both cases, the artist used the painting of the statues, but if the coloring of the early figures are quite reserved, in the later it is more intense.

In Landsbergs the altar of the Mower painting four exterior doors, dedicated to the virgin Mary, and four internal, which depict the passion of Christ (Berlin, State. museums). Interest in the plasticity of the human figure, its material physicality and three-dimensionality is characteristic of the artist's paintings. The characters of his paintings dominate the space. They do not have the fragility and refinement characteristic of works of painters of the "soft style", who worked in Germany at this time. Expressive faces and movements of the Mower is trying to achieve with the help of sharp angles, sharpness of expressions. Portraying a naked body, it uses the cut-off modeling, which allows to achieve the sensation of living flesh. With rich and dense colors, the artist was trying to convey the texture of a material.

Affiliation Mulcher painting exterior and interior shutters of the Altar of Startinga not unconditional, while the composite solutions to some of the scenes given the proximity of his works. Some characteristics of first job find the development in the later increases the emotionality of expressions and gestures, sometimes even slightly exaggerated, significantly increasing attention to the problems of space. The figures are either in the developing deep into the interior, often with breakthroughs in the natural environment, or in a multidimensional landscape.

Created Mulchers type of altar works, including sculpture and painting, found considerable response in the German art of the time, especially in the works of the artists of southern Germany.