Washing of the Disciples' Feet

The Meister des Obersteiner Altars (Master of the Oberstein Altarpiece) was a South German painter active around 1500 whose Washing of the Disciples' Feet represents the Maundy Thursday scene preceding the Passion narrative. This subject — Christ washing Peter's feet in an act of humble service — carried strong liturgical resonance and was depicted in altarpiece programmes that followed the chronology of Holy Week. The Oberstein altarpiece has been partially dismembered, and individual panels survive in different collections.

The Master employs an oil-tempera mixed technique on panel, with figures arranged in the narrative frieze format characteristic of South German altarpiece painting around 1500. Christ kneels before Peter in the foreground, with the other disciples ranged behind in attitudes of anticipation and conversation. The architectural setting — a tiled interior — is rendered with modest spatial recession.