Frankfurt Dominican Altarpiece: Lineage of the Dominican Order (upper part)

Hans Holbein the Elder painted this Lineage of the Dominican Order for the Frankfurt Dominican Altarpiece around 1501. The panel celebrates the Dominican order's history through portraits of its most important figures. As a commission for a Dominican church, the altarpiece naturally celebrated the order's intellectual and spiritual legacy. 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.

Oil on panel with detailed portraits of Dominican saints and scholars arranged in a genealogical or hierarchical format. Holbein's ability to individualize faces within a formal compositional framework is fully displayed.