The Mass of St. Gregory the Great
Historical Context
The Master of the Aachen Altar was an anonymous Cologne painter active around 1490-1510. This Mass of Saint Gregory around 1499 depicts the legendary miracle in which Christ appeared to Pope Gregory during the celebration of the Mass. The subject was enormously popular in late medieval Northern European art as it validated the doctrine of the Real Presence in the Eucharist. This work belongs to the High Renaissance, when the innovations of the preceding century were synthesized into works of monumental clarity and ideal beauty.
Technical Analysis
Oil on panel with the rich coloring and detailed surface treatment characteristic of the Cologne school. The miraculous vision is rendered with the decorative opulence typical of late fifteenth-century Rhineland painting.
