Epitaph for Adelheid Tucher, née Gundlach, 1483

The epitaph for Adelheid, the wife of Endres II Tucher (1423-1507), was created on the occasion of her death on 4 December 1482. In the foreground Mary, John and Magdalena mourn for the dead Christ, while his body is wrapped in white linen in preparation for the burial. The figure of the deceased Adelheid kneels praying in front of the mourning group. The Tucher and Gundlach alliance coat of arms is next to her.

The background is a veduta of Jerusalem, one of the earliest realistic images of the Holy City. As with the drawn city map at the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, the view is from the Mount of Olives over the city, whose houses are crowded closely together surrounded by a solid city wall. In the lower part you can see the Golden Gate and the Temple Mount, in the upper part the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Small figures of Christ carrying the cross mark the way along the Via Dolorosa from the House of Pilate through the bazaar to the forecourt of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Christ collapses under the weight of the cross. Miniatures inserted on the left show the two Marys at the tomb of Christ and further up the interrogations in front of the houses of the high priests Caiaphas and Annas. You can see castles and country houses around the city.

It is unclear whether the plague was originally hung in the collegiate church of St. Jakob in Bamberg, near Adelheid's crypt in the choir corridor. The painting is attributed to the Bamberg painter Wolfgang Katzheimer the Elder and his workshop.

Randall Herz

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