Paumgartner

Paumgartner
Painting artist: Albrecht Durer; Oil painting on panel; Size: 155x126 cm (central panel), 157x61 cm (side panels); Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

The triptych, called the Paumgartner Altarpiece after its clients, is made up of a central panel with the Nativity and two leaves whose inner faces are painted with large-scale, full-length figures of Saint George and Saint Eustace, probably portrait of the brothers Lukas and Stephan Paumgartner. The altarpiece, painted c. 1498-1504, reflects Durer's studies on the proportion of the human figure in the wings and of perspective in the central panel, where the lines of the walls seem to converge on a point in the background of the picture.
The composition is structured around diagonals: the one determined by Joseph's stick and three of the seven small figures of donors in the foreground, and the one linking Mary's head with Joseph's, the wooden roof and the planks at the top. St. Joseph is holding a lantern, traditional symbol of the earthly light that is outshone by the spiritual light of Jesus, just as the rising of the sun symbolizes the birth of the Savior, the sun of Justice. In the background, an angel announces the birth to the shepherds.