Hl. Ambrosius

The Master of Großgmain's Hl. Ambrosius in the Kunsthistorisches Museum depicts the fourth-century Bishop of Milan who became one of the four Latin Doctors of the Church — the foundational theologians of Western Christianity. Ambrose, shown in bishop's vestments with his attributes, was a saint of particular importance in Lombardy but was venerated universally across the Western church. The anonymous master, named for a triptych in the Austrian town of Großgmain, worked in the Austrian-Bavarian sphere of late fifteenth-century painting, producing altarpiece panels in a style reflecting both local late Gothic tradition and Flemish technical influence.

Ambrose appears in full episcopal vestments — mitre, crozier, cope — his identifying attribute possibly the beehive associated with his childhood legend or a book representing his theological writings. The master's careful rendering of elaborate vestments follows Flemish-influenced attention to textile pattern and liturgical detail.