MASTER Bertram
(b. ca. 1345, Minden, d. 1415, Hamburg)

St Peter (Grabow) Altarpiece: Nativity

1379-83
Tempera on wood, 80 x 57 cm
Kunsthalle, Hamburg

"The panel of the high altar of St. Peter in Hamburg was made in 1383. The artist was named Bertram of Mynden." So states an entry in the Hamburg Chronicles. Master Bertram from Minden, the creator of this work, used the same pictorial means as Konrad von Soest. His stable in the Nativity is even more spartan and ramshackle in appearance than that of Konrad. Joseph bends to present the Christ Child to Mary. At her side lie a minature oxe and ass.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 2 minutes):
Gregorian sequence