Master IW

Known as Master IW or the Monogrammist I.W., this artist is presented as a Czech or Saxon Renaissance painter, active between 1520 and 1550, mainly in north-western Bohemia; the monogram used to sign his work has not been conclusively linked to a specific name. German art historians cited by the source identify him as a pupil of Lucas Cranach the Elder and state that he worked in the Wittenberg workshop before settling in Bohemia. His patrons included the monastery of Osek, the Deacons’ Church in Most, St Vitus Cathedral in Prague and aristocratic families; after 1538, he probably ran his own workshop with an assistant.

His pictorial language draws on Cranach’s prints, and the source also notes related features in some saints’ faces. The early works are described as featuring somewhat fragile figures and angular drapery folds. In the later works, the handling becomes more fluid and the transitions between shadow and light more nuanced; friezes, capitals and gold chasuble borders contribute to a marked attention to decorative detail.

The Suicide of Lucretia, the first recorded signed and dated work, dates from 1525 and is in the Heinz Kisters Collection in Kreuzlingen; a Madonna and Child from the same year is held at the National Gallery in Prague. The Marian Altarpiece of Želina, dated 1526, is presented as the artist’s largest complete signed and dated work and is held at the Regional Museum in Chomutov. The votive painting of Šopka, painted on both sides and dated 1530, is at the Gallery of Fine Arts in Northern Bohemia, Litoměřice. The Thoughtful Christ of 1541 is identified as his last signed work; the original is held in the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, while two later copies are recorded in Duchcov and Chomutov. An ex-voto of Kašpar Kašpárek, dated 1538 and originally intended for the church of the Franciscan monastery in Plzeň, is now held at the National Gallery in Prague. Later works include The Murder of Saint Wenceslas (1543), held in the Saint Wenceslas Chapel of St Vitus Cathedral in Prague and associated with a wall composition by the Master of the Litoměřice Altarpiece as well as a woodcut by Cranach, and The Beheading of Saint Catherine (1544), held in Litoměřice and probably originating from the central panel of a disassembled and lost altarpiece. The Brazen Serpent Lifted Up, from the monastery of Osek, is attributed to his workshop around 1550.

Works recorded at auction

Koller

Salome with the head of Saint John the Baptist.

Oil on panel

Original catalogue wording

Salome with the head of Saint John the Baptist.
oil on panel

Date to be documented

Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed

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