Aachener Altar

The Aachen Altar by the Master of the Aachen Altar, dating to around 1517, is a major work of Cologne school painting from the early sixteenth century. The anonymous master worked in the rich tradition of Rhenish religious painting that served the great cathedral chapter of Aachen. Oil on canvas — by the sixteenth century the dominant medium for ambitious works — allowed successive glazes of transparent color and freedom to rework the composition.

The altarpiece demonstrates the late Gothic tradition of the Cologne school, with precise, jewel-like coloring and elaborate gold backgrounds reflecting the conservative tastes of Rhenish ecclesiastical patronage.