page_title: Heller Altarpiece
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Heller Altarpiece / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Standing panel: St. Lawrence of RomeDeutsch: Standtafel: Hl. Laurentius von Rom
context_page_description: The Heller Altarpiece was an oil on panel triptych by German Renaissance artists Albrecht Dürer and Matthias Grünewald, executed between 1507 and 1509. The artwork was named after Jakob Heller, who ordered it. Dürer painted the interior, Grünewald the exterior.
  In 1615, Dürer copyist Jobst Harrich painted a duplicate, which is now at the Städel of Frankfurt. The side panels, executed by Bosch's workshop basing from his drawings, are at the Staatliche Kunsthalle of Karlsruhe.
context_section_description: The central panel, depicting the Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin, was perhaps inspired by Raphael's Oddi Altarpiece. It is not known if Dürer saw Raphael's work in Perugia, during a hypothetical trip to Rome after his stay in Venice, or if he knew it from etchings or drawings. 
  Mary is shown while the Holy Trinity (Jesus at right, the Eternal Father at the center and, at top, the Holy Spirit Dove) crowns her, surrounded by a multitude of cherubims; this iconography was popular in northern Europe art at the time, and was used, for example, in a panel by Enguerrand Quarton now at the Louvre Museum (1454). Below, around the empty sepulcher, the apostles observe the scene in  astonished postures. Dürer added a self-portrait in the background, next to a table with his signature and the date.
  The internal side panels were painted by assistants from Dürer's drawings. At left is he Martyrdom of St. James; Jacob Heller appears below, kneeling inside a niche with his coat of arms. At right is Martyrdom of St. Catherine of Alexandria, with the donor's wife,  Katharina von Melem. The choice of the saints was connected to the two donors' names. 
  The external panels were painted in grisaille, with the participation of a young Matthias Grünewald. They include eight depiction of saints; one, St. Lawrence, is signed "MGN". St. Cyriacus is portrayed during the exorcism of Artemia, daughter of Roman emperor Diocletian. He hold a book with the exorcism formula: ": AVCTORITATE DOMINI NOSTRI IHSVXPHISTI EXORCIZO TE PER ISTA TRIA NOMINA EDXAI EN ONOMATI GRAMMATON IN NOMINE PATRIS ET FILII ET SPIRITVS SANCTI AMEN".
caption: Panel of St. Lawrence by  Matthias Grünewald.
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