Rem-Altar: Heilige Dreifaltigkeit ("Gnadenstuhl")

The Holy Trinity panel—showing the “Throne of Mercy” or Gnadenstuhl composition of God the Father supporting the crucified Son while the Holy Spirit descends as a dove—is the theological centerpiece of the Rem Altarpiece painted for the Augsburg merchant family in 1518. Now in Munich’s Alte Pinakothek alongside its companion Madonna panel, this work represents one of the most theologically ambitious compositions Metsys undertook, reducing the central mystery of Christianity to a single powerful image.

The Trinitarian composition is organized with hieratic formality, God the Father’s monumental figure dominating the panel while the crucified Christ hangs before him. The dove of the Holy Spirit completes the vertical axis with precise iconographic placement.