Copy of the Crucifixion panel of the Issenheim Altarpiece
On display (March 14-22, 2008) is a painting by Maria Gabankova, artist and associate professor at the Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto. The work is a large copy (94"x108") of the Crucifixion panel of the Issenheim Altarpiece by Matthias Grünewald which Ms Gabankova travelled to Colmar, Alsace, France to study at the Unterlinden Museum in 2003. She was commissioned by the Biblical Museum of Canada in Vancouver, B.C. to paint a copy of the Crucifixion panel, which she completed in the summer of 2007. The painting has had a profound influence on Ms Gabankova's work and its spiritual content and expressive power relates to the themes of her previous work. It will remain in the Cathedral (at the Baptistry) throughout Holy Week until Holy Saturday.
The original Issenheim Altarpiece is an altarpiece painted by the German artist Matthias Grünewald between 1512 and 1516, It is on display at the Unterlinden Museum at Colmar, Alsace, now in France. By far his greatest, as well as his largest work, it was painted for the Monastery of Saint Anthony in Issenheim near Colmar (then in Germany), which specialized in hospital work. The Antonine monks of the monastery were noted for their treatment of sufferers of skin disease, such as ergotism, symptoms of which are displayed by figures including the crucified Christ in the altarpiece. The iconography of the altarpiece has several unusual elements, derived from closely following the accounts left by Saint Bridget of Sweden of her mystical visions. These have long had a significant influence on art, especially on depictions of the Nativity of Christ. The Crucifixion includes Saint John the Baptist, long dead by Gospel chronology.
More information about St. James' Cathedral is available at: stjamescathedral.on.ca
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