Academic thesis
| Helga von Medem: | Back | |
| Language: | Original - Translation | |
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| Abstract: | The investigation into the proportion-schemes of late-Gothic altars from Saalfeld is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the topic of proportions from antiquity and the sources of the Middle Ages to the current scientific discussion about the thesis on the proportions of Gothic buildings. The presentation of the results of studies of Florentine altars and Cologne panel paintings of the 15th century complete this part. The second part addresses the Saalfeld altar-pieces from the period between 1470 and 1520, to the importance of Saalfeld as the centre of wood craft next to Erfurt, to the eight masters of the altars and their formal and iconographic idiosyncrasies. The third part represents the synthesis of Part 1 and Part 2, in which 25 of the 60 still existing Saalfeld altars are examined in relation to the proportions in their structure. Two different methods of proportion analysis, based on measured values and on geometric construction, are combined in order to avoid the mistakes that have brought the theory of proportions of Gothic buildings into disrepute through unscientific methods of detection. This way it was possible to show that the Saalfeld masters, when designing their altars, probably used the same ideal basic figures, such as square, equilateral triangle and circle, which in ancient times had a prominent role already. Here, these figures are not applied in a static, modular method but in a dynamic, gradual process. |
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