The Mass of St Gregory

The Master of the Morrison Triptych painted this Mass of Saint Gregory around 1505. The subject depicts the miraculous appearance of Christ as the Man of Sorrows during Gregory's celebration of mass, a vision that validated the doctrine of transubstantiation. The Master was an important painter of the Lower Rhenish school. The oil medium allowed for rich tonal transitions and glazed layers of color that created luminous depth impossible with the older tempera technique. Such devotional panels served both liturgical contexts in churches and chapels and private devotional use in the homes of wealthy families who maintained personal altars and oratories.

Oil on panel with careful rendering of the liturgical setting and the miraculous apparition. The chapel interior and vestments are depicted with the descriptive precision characteristic of Lower Rhenish painting.