Bestattung des Apostels Jakobus d. Ä. (Umkreis)

Jan Polack's circle produced this Burial of the Apostle James the Elder around 1500 in Munich. The scene of James's burial after his martyrdom in Jerusalem was a component of the apostle's life cycle. The attribution to Polack's circle indicates supervised workshop production. The tempera medium required careful preparation on a gessoed panel and a disciplined layering technique that produced precise, durable surfaces suited to the intricate detail expected of devotional painting. Such devotional panels served both liturgical contexts in churches and chapels and private devotional use in the homes of wealthy families who maintained personal altars and oratories.

Oil on panel with the Polack workshop's characteristic style and Munich coloring. The funerary scene is staged with the directness and energy typical of the Polack atelier's religious narratives.