Zweiter Kirchheimer Sippenaltar: Esmeria und Afra mit Elisabeth und Eliud

The Master of Kirchheim's second altarpiece of the Holy Kinship depicts the extended family of the Virgin Mary, a subject with specific doctrinal content: the doctrine of Anna selbdritt (Saint Anne with Mary and Christ) expanded in the late medieval period to include the entire Heilige Sippe — the Holy Kinship. This panel showing Esmeria, Afra, Elisabeth, and Eliud tracks the genealogical web surrounding the Virgin's family, a subject that proliferated in South German altarpiece programmes around 1500. Kirchheim am Ries was a Swabian centre, and this altarpiece belongs to the dense network of workshop production serving Upper Swabian parish churches.

The Master of Kirchheim employs a tempera and oil mixed technique with gold grounds. Figures are arranged in shallow space with careful attention to costume differentiation — each member of the Holy Kinship is distinguished by specific attributes and dress. The handling is provincial but competent, with Flemish-influenced drapery modelling visible in the larger forms.