Workshop of Master Tilman, Cologne, ca. 1500
recovered from the old Church of Our Lady on Brüderstraße
Photo: Dr. Philipp Reichling OPraem
Standing in a niche in the left aisle are three figures from the workshop of the Cologne woodcarver Master Tilman (active in Cologne 1475–1515), whose works are found primarily in the Middle and Lower Rhine regions.
„The Three Wise Men. Wood, later polychromy, height 1.25 m each, circa 1500 (Figs. 43–45). Caspar, kneeling slightly, extends a tall embossed goblet [Buckelpokal] with his right hand while holding his cap against his chest with his left. Melchior stands with his body slightly twisted, holding a small casket in his bent right hand, his left hanging down loosely with his cap. Balthasar is depicted in a walking pose [Schreitmotiv] and holds a censer in his hands. Exquisite figures from the circle of the Cologne Master Tilman, circa 1500.“
This is how the entry in Egon Verheyen's 'Bau- und Kunstdenkmäler in Duisburg (1966)' reads. The group comes from the old Liebfrauenkirche of 1896.
In a research report from 2001, 'Cologne woodcarving workshops of the late Middle Ages (1400-1540)', Reinhard Karrenbrock (Department of Art Preservation in the General Vicariate of Münster) directly attributes [the work] to Master Tilman’s workshop:
„A [...] group of figures of the Three Wise Men by Master Tillman has been preserved [...] in the Church of Our Lady (Liebfrauenkirche) in Duisburg. A more detailed investigation of this group, whose Madonna is missing [...], extending beyond a stylistic-critical classification, has not yet been undertaken. The group of figures, which will originally have been placed [...] within a retable, could have been commissioned by a member of the Tacke family, who originated from Duisburg but were based in Cologne around 1500, and for whom various endowments in their hometown are documented, including the endowment of a chapel at the (old) Church of Our Lady in 1487 [...]“
References:
Verheyen, Egon: Bau- und Kunstdenkmäler in Duisburg, 1966.
Karrenbrock, Reinhard: Kölner Bildschnitzerwerkstätten des späten Mittelalters (1400-1540). State of the art, in: Museum Schnütgen: Wooden Sculptures of the Middle Ages, volume II: 1400 to 1540. Part 1: Cologne, Westfalia, Northern Germany. Cologne 2001, p. 9–80.
