Madonna (Schöne Maria von Regensburg)

The Madonna known as the Schöne Maria von Regensburg — Beautiful Mary of Regensburg — connects Altdorfer to one of the most contentious episodes in Regensburg's religious history. Following the expulsion of the Jewish community from Regensburg in 1519, a miraculous image of the Virgin was claimed at the site of the demolished synagogue, drawing pilgrims in huge numbers. Altdorfer, who as a city councillor was complicit in the expulsion, made woodcuts of the pilgrimage and the chapel, and this panel painting has been associated with that charged devotional context. The fact that it remains at Kollegiatstift St. Johannes Baptist in Regensburg suggests it was always intended for local devotional use. Altdorfer thus occupies a morally complicated position in this work: perpetrator of religious violence and provider of its devotional imagery simultaneously.

Panel painting with the concentrated detail appropriate to a devotional image intended for close veneration. The Madonna's features are painted with idealized softness, consistent with miraculous image conventions. Any gold or gilded elements would reinforce the work's devotional rather than merely artistic status.