Franciscan altar: Saint Bernard of Siena rejects the episcopal dignity

This panel from a Franciscan altarpiece depicting Saint Bernard of Siena rejecting the episcopal dignity, painted around 1465 by the Master of the Wolfgang Altar, illustrates an episode of humble renunciation. The anonymous master, active in Austria, was one of the leading painters of the late Gothic period in the Habsburg lands, producing altarpieces that combined Northern European expressiveness with growing Italian influence.

The panel demonstrates the vivid narrative style of Austrian late Gothic painting, with detailed rendering of ecclesiastical vestments and architectural settings, and the expressive figural gestures characteristic of this school.