Hofer Altar: Christus am Ölberg (Rückseite: Erzengel Michael mit dem Drachen)

Hans Pleydenwurff's Hofer Altar panel with Christ on the Mount of Olives, with the Archangel Michael on the reverse, belongs to his significant contribution to Nuremberg altarpiece production in the third quarter of the fifteenth century. The Gethsemane scene and its reverse depiction of Michael reflect the standard practice of using altarpiece reverses for secondary devotional subjects visible when the main altarpiece was closed. Pleydenwurff's treatment demonstrates the Nuremberg school's careful attention to both narrative clarity and emotional accessibility, qualities that his successor Wolgemut and then Dürer would develop further.

Pleydenwurff's rendering of the Agony in the Garden shows the emotional intensity of German Passion imagery combined with the spatial depth and naturalistic detail he absorbed from Netherlandish models.