Passionsaltar (Bad Wildungen)

Conrad von Soest's Passionsaltar (Bad Wildungen), dated 1403 and also in Saint Nikolaus parish church in Bad Wildungen, is the artist's greatest surviving work and one of the masterpieces of early fifteenth-century German painting. The large altarpiece presents scenes from the Passion of Christ — the events leading to and including the Crucifixion — in the International Gothic style that Von Soest had absorbed from French court art and the Bohemian school. The altarpiece was commissioned for a prosperous parish church in Hesse, and its survival in something close to its original location makes it an exceptional document of early Gothic devotional culture in Germany. Its extraordinary color and figure style distinguish Von Soest as one of the great personalities of German painting.

Von Soest's signature cool palette — pale blues, silver-greens, and delicate pinks — unifies the multiple panels of the altarpiece. Figures are slim and elegant, their draperies organized in flowing, linear patterns. Gold grounds are elaborately tooled, and the overall effect is of extraordinary decorative refinement combined with genuine narrative clarity.