around 1340 -1414/1415 · Minden, Hamburg and Nordic Gothic

Luminous gold, tight stories and cosmic imagination make Master Bertram the great founder of Hamburg Gothic painting.

Master Bertram, identified with the painter Bertram von Minden, was probably born around 1340 in the Minden region and died in Hamburg in 1414 or 1415. Archives mention him in the Hanseatic city from the mid-1360s. He runs an important workshop, owns a house and receives civil and religious commissions, a sign of his high status. His masterpiece is the large altarpiece commissioned for the high altar of St. Peter's Church in Hamburg and completed around 1379 -1383. Later transferred to Grabow, he thus escaped the transformations and destruction of his place of origin. Recognized around 1900 as the old Hamburg altarpiece, it thus escaped the transformations and destruction of its place of origin. Recognized around 1900 as the old Hamburg altarpiece, it entered the Hamburger Kunsthalle in 1900. Its panels unfold Creation, salvation history and Passion in dozens of episodes. God measures, shapes and orders the world; animals, plants, angels and humans fill spaces of gold where every gesture has great clarity. Master Bertram combines monumentality of figures, frank colors, concrete detail and continuous narration. Other ensembles linked to his workshop address the Apocalypse and the lives of saints, multiplying visions, monsters, cities and celestial signs. Other ensembles linked to his workshop address the Apocalypse and the lives of saints, multiplying visions, monsters, cities and celestial signs. The scenes from the Apocalypse proposed here show this ability to condense a complex theology into immediately readable images. His art connects Westphalian traditions, court culture and exchanges Hanse, paving the way for the great North German painting of the 15th century. The "Master Bertram" selection notably compares 12 scenes from the Apocalypse, right part and 12 scenes from the Apocalypse, left part. His reading favors space.

At Master Bertram, gold does not erase the world: it illuminates animals, professions, architecture and visions to the point of making every detail a part of the divine order.