Masters without Names in Medieval Silesia: the Master of the Years 1486–1487, the Master of the Gießmannsdorf Polyptych and Wilhelm Kalteysen von Oche

Abstract

Due to archival research the names of more than 150 artists active in Silesia between 1340 and 1520 were established. Paradoxically however, until 2004, it had remained impossible to definitively link any preserved painted or sculpted artwork with any of these known artists names. This impasse was reflected in the catalogue of the exhibition of Silesian medieval art published in 1929. In order to handle and classify the presented objects its authors brought several anonymous masters into further focus by providing them names taken from the most significant artwork attributed to them. Their oeuvres were then expanded with additional stylistically related works, which established, in consequence, the model of classification of Silesian late Gothic art that remains in use today. This paper aims to present the effects of the long-term application and development of the model created in 1929. Another objective is to analyse of the consequences of the archival discovery that let the scholars identify the so-called Master of the St. Barbara Altarpiece with Wilhelm Kalteysen von Oche.

Keywords

• late gothic art
• silesia
• wrocław (breslau)
• erich wiese
• strzegom (striegau)
• nysa (neisse)