Bert Koch Illus (1 results)

Quarto; hardcover, with gilt spine and upper board titling; 80pp., with many tipped-in colour plates and monochrome illustrations. Mild wear; slight offset to the preliminaries with some scattered spotting, throughout; toned and spotted text block and page edges. Dustwrapper well-rubbed and edgeworn; rear panel toned with one or two minor marks; a long tear along the lower hinge with associated creasing; spine panel head chipped; now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film with white paper backing. Good to very good. Postage quoted is for a standard format octavo book. Final charges may vary depending on size and weight. The Isenheim Altarpiece has a spellbinding fascination unique in European painting, and for this reason it occupies a special place in every history of art. In scholarly circles, its creator Matthias Grunewald, is a problem of the solitary individual. Almost nothing of his life is known; even his name is uncertain. The Isenheim Altarpiece itself is a riddle. The author of this book, Georg Scheja, who, as one of the greatest living experts on Grunewald, has devoted many years of research to his subject, is the first to have succeeded in putting forward a convincing interpretation of the inner meaning of the work. By so doing, he is able finally to clarify and explain the whole great spiritual force that lies behind this principle work of an outstanding visionary artist.