El retablo de Isenheim: religión, arte y medicina

Felipe C Cabello

doi:10.4067/s0034-98872018000901050

Abstract

Northern Europe at the beginning of the 16th Century was in turmoil as a result of religious and political dissention, epidemics of plague, syphilis, ergotism, and famine, and the threat of the Ottoman Empire. In Alsace, a fulcrum between Germany, France, Switzerland and the Netherlands, Grünewald painted his celebrated and complex altarpiece at Isenheim in a convent chapel of the Antonine religious order that kept a hospital for the care of patients suffering from ergotism, plague, syphilis and other illnesses. The ten paintings of this altarpiece convey a series of religious, medical and political meanings, with the scenes of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection being thought to play an integral part of the curative process. This was because patients could be soothed by comparing their suffering to that of Christ on the cross and could console themselves by the Resurrection. The portrait of Christ in the cross is astounding in its realism and naturalism. It represents, with great pathological veracity, a tortured body in agony, a break with previous traditional representations of this event. Impressive pathological detail is also given to a figure in the Temptation scene. The entire work is suffused with religious connotations provided by the composition, the forms and the richness and sophisticated use of colors. Although Grünewald's paintings are few and the facts of his personal life sparse, it is known he married a Jewish woman, supported the peasant revolts, and was probably a Lutheran in a Catholic area. While Grünewald is considered the epitome of a German artist, the universal projections of his art have influenced physicians and the artistic productions of many painters, writers, musicians and sculptors throughout the world.

Highlights

Northern Europe at the beginning of the 16th Century was in turmoil as a result of religious and political dissention, epidemics of plague, syphilis, ergotism, and famine, and the threat of the Ottoman Empire
In Alsace, a fulcrum between Germany, France, Switzerland and the Netherlands, Grünewald painted his celebrated and complex altarpiece at Isenheim in a convent chapel of the Antonine religious order that kept a hospital for the care of patients suffering from ergotism, plague, syphilis and other illnesses
La Resurrección, es considerada también una de las obras maestras del arte pictórico mundial por su novedosa representación de Cristo en una forma y con colores que resaltan su triunfo sobre la muerte y que lo convierten en un mensajero victorioso de una nueva época (Figuras 3b y 3c)[215]

Summary

Introduction

Northern Europe at the beginning of the 16th Century was in turmoil as a result of religious and political dissention, epidemics of plague, syphilis, ergotism, and famine, and the threat of the Ottoman Empire. Cristo crucificado se representa por primera vez en la historia de una manera realista y natural, con las lesiones patológicas cutáneas y musculares de un cuerpo que pareciera torturado extensivamente y que la tradición indica, las que Grünewald probablemente presenció en los cadáveres de los enfermos del hospital para el cual la pintura fuera comisionada[2,3,4,5,6,7,8].

Results

Conclusion