Artwork
Hl. Petrus Abgetrennte Rückseite: Schmerzensmann (WAF 991)
Hl. Petrus Abgetrennte Rückseite: Schmerzensmann (WAF 991) is an unspecified painting by the Northern Renaissance artist Sebald Bopp. It dates from 1490 and is held in the collection of the Bavarian State Painting Collections. Created in 1490, the panel known as *Hl.
About this work
Overview
Created in 1490, the panel known as *Hl. Petrus Abgetrennte Rückseite: Schmerzensmann* (catalogued as WAF 991) is a late‑15th‑century German painting now conserved in the Alte Pinakothek. Executed by Sebald Bopp, a regional artist active in the Bamberg area, the work belongs to the Northern Renaissance and portrays a solitary, contemplative figure within a devotional context.
Subject & Meaning
The image presents a bearded, long‑haired man in a dark robe, holding a small book or tablet and a slender writing instrument. One hand points to the text, suggesting a moment of reading or instruction. The iconography aligns with a “Man of Suffering” motif often linked to Saint Peter, emphasizing penitence and contemplation in Christian practice.
Technique & Style
Bopp employs a stark chiaroscuro, lighting the figure from one side to accentuate facial features and the folds of the garment. The background resembles carved or textured metal, giving a relief‑like quality that enhances the three‑dimensional illusion. The handling of line and detail reflects the influence of the Master of the Bamberg Altar, typical of Northern Renaissance realism.
History & Provenance
Documentation records Bopp’s status as a journeyman in Würzburg in 1474 and later activity in Nuremberg, though little else survives about his career. The panel entered the collection of the Alte Pinakothek, where it remains part of the museum’s holdings of late medieval German painting.
Context
The work emerges from a period when German painters were integrating Italianate naturalism with local devotional traditions. Bopp’s adoption of metal‑like backgrounds and precise rendering of textures reflects a broader interest in materiality and symbolic depth characteristic of the late Gothic to early Renaissance transition in Central Europe.
Artist & collection
Artist
Sebald Bopp (died 1502) was a German painter active around Bamberg. Little is known about him; his name is first recorded in Würzburg, where he was listed as a journeyman in 1474, but his earliest known work remains in…
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