Bernt Notke

File:Bernt Notke goss 74a.jpg

Bernt Notke, Self-Portrait (in form of a kneeling priest in the altarpiece Mass of St. Gregor, ca. 1504).

(born c. 1435 in Lassan in Pomerania; died winter 1508/1509 in Lübeck) was the most important German painter-sculptor in Northern Europe in his times.

His most famous sculpture is his Sankt Göran och Draken (Saint George and the Dragon) for the Storkyrkan in Stockholms Gamla stan. An exact copy of this sculpture is at St. Catherine's Church in Lübeck. The statue had been commissioned by the Swedish regent Sten Sture the Elder, to commemorate Sture's victory over King Christian I of Denmark in the 1471 Battle of Brunkeberg.

He is the creator of the world's largest triumphal cross, in Lübeck Cathedral.

His painting Danse Macabre in St. Mary was destroyed in the course of the Bombing of Lübeck in World War II.

Parts of his Danse Macabre for Reval are saved in St. Nicholas' Church, Tallinn.

The trade with sacral art went as far as Northern Norway. There is an altar from Notke in Trondenes Church near Harstad.

• Altertavle-domkirken.jpg

  Århus Domkirke, Denmark

• Altertavle-domkirken-midt.jpg

  middle section of "Århustavlen", Denmark

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  St. George and the Dragon in Stockholms Storkyrkan Sweden

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  Danse Macabre at the St. Nicholas' Church, Tallinn, Estonia

• HolyGhostTallinnNotke.jpg

  The High Altar in the Church of the Holy Ghost in Tallinn Estonia

Further reading

• Hans Georg Gmelin. "Notke, Bernt." In Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online, (accessed January 11, 2012).(subscription required)
• ; (full text online)
• Kerstin Petermann: Bernt Notke. Arbeitsweise und Werkstattorganisation im späten Mittelalter. Berlin: Reimer 2000, ISBN 3-496-01217-X.

External links

• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons
• Entry for Bernt Notke on the Union List of Artist Names