Circle of HANS LEONHARD SCHÄUFELEIN Saints Stephen, Andrew, Paul and Christopher.

Circle of HANS LEONHARD SCHÄUFELEIN

(Nuremberg circa 1480–1538/1540 Nördlingen)
Saints Stephen, Andrew, Paul and Christopher.
Oil and gold ground on panel.
Inscribed lower left: Ca […], / J […] en […].
132.6 × 161.7 cm

Provenance:
- Dr Hinrich Bischoff collection (1936–2005), circa 2001.
- By inheritance to the present owner, European private collection.

Exhibited:
Berlin 2001/2024, Order of Malta, long-term loan.

This monumental depiction of the four saints Stephen, Andrew, Paul and Christopher, who carries Christ on his shoulders, set within a complex architectural composition, is close to the work of Hans Leonhard Schäufelein. The artist worked in the Nuremberg workshop of the great Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) between 1503 and 1507. From 1513 until the end of his life he is recorded in Nördlingen. In addition to painting, Schäufelein was also active as a printmaker, in particular as a woodcut artist and book illustrator. The sculptural conception and hierarchical monumentality of the saints in this panel recall the style of Albrecht Dürer.

The present painting was probably originally painted on both sides, comparable with another surviving example by Schäufelein in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (see The Dormition of the Virgin / Christ Carrying the Cross, oil on panel, 139.7 × 134.9 cm, inv. no. 2011.485a,b).