France: The Rediscovered Splendor of the Issenheim Altarpiece

This museum has one of the masterpieces of Western art: the Altarpiece of Issenheim, an impressive polyptych sculpted by Nicolas de Haguenau around 1510 and painted by Mathias Grünewald from 1512 to 1516. The Altarpiece has regained its original brilliance, thanks to the masterful work carried out by a restoration team.

A stone’s throw from the convent, visitors could recently observe the latest retouching done by Anna Brunetto, a world specialist in laser restoration, leaning on the wooden frame of one of the paintings that make up the work. It is a matter of moving millimeter by millimeter, to remove the successive layers of paint added to the frame over time, and find the original colors.

“The complexity is finding the balance between the parts you want to remove and those you want to keep,” explained the 52-year-old Italian. The Issenheim Altarpiece, made up of ten paintings, presents episodes from the life of Christ and St. Anthony, and eight sculpted reliefs.

The masterpiece has suffered from layers of varnish deposited successively, darkened or yellowed over time, and manipulations carried out during the French Revolution as during the two world wars, to protect it, which have altered the linden frames and supports.

After several superficial operations, until the last carried out in the early 1990s, a complete restoration was needed. It took place over more than four and a half years, mainly within the walls of the museum, but also in Paris (for the sculptures) and Vesoul (for certain frames). A renovation that cost 1.4 million euros, 80% funded by sponsorship.

The restoration mobilized two teams, ten people in charge of the sculptures, under the leadership of Juliette Lévy, and twenty-one for the paintings, led by Anthony Pontabry, who expresses his satisfaction with the extent of the work accomplished.

“There are five centuries of patina on the paintings, so there is a slight color metamorphosis, but I think we are very, very close to what Grünewald did,” says the 75-year-old restorationist.

The Altarpiece of the Life of Christ and St. Anthony

Between 1512 and 1516, the artists Nicolas de Haguenau (for the sculpted part) and Grünewald (for the painted panels) created the famous altarpiece for the St. Anthony Commandery of Issenheim, a village located about twenty kilometers from Colmar. This polyptych, which

adorned the high altar of the church of the Issenheim Convent before the Revolution, was commissioned by one of the superiors of the order, Guy Guers, preceptor of the commandery from 1490 to 1516.

Founded around 1300, the Issenheim Commandery belongs to the order of St. Anthony which was started at the end of the 9th century in a village in Dauphiné. The Antonin order aims to treat patients suffering from the sacred fire or St. Anthony’s fire, a real scourge in the Middle Ages. This disease, linked to the ingestion of ergot, a parasite of rye, causes a contraction of the blood vessels which can lead to necrosis of the limbs.

To help the sick, the Antonins served them good quality bread and prepared St. Vinage, a wine-based beverage in which the monks macerated plants and soaked relics of St. Anthony. They also produced a herbal balm with anti-inflammatory properties.

The Issenheim Commandery gradually acquired considerable wealth, as evidenced by the many works of art it commissioned and financed. The Altarpiece is among them. It remained in this religious establishment until the Revolution and to prevent its destruction, it was transported to Colmar, to the National Library of the District, in 1792. It was transferred in 1852 to the church of the former Dominican Convent in Unterlinden, where it is the jewel of the museum.

In addition to the Altarpiece, the Unterlinden Museum offers a tour covering nearly 7,000 years of history, from prehistory to 20th century art. This journey through time, through encyclopedic collections, allows you to discover the multiple aspects of the museum's architecture. In the Gothic cloister is presented the art of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, with works by Martin Schongauer, Hans Holbein, and Lucas Cranach.

Unterlinden Museum, Place Unterlinden, 68000 Colmar - 03 89 20 15 50

Wednesday to Monday: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday: closed. The ticket desk closes 30 minutes before the closing of the Museum.