Süddeutsch, um 1720
Design for an altar. Pen and black ink, gray wash; on laid paper, sheet trimmed round at the top. 42,7 : 25,5 cm. Horizontal centerfold smoothed out, missing part in the white paper at upper left replaced. The towering altarpiece consists of laterally projecting pillars, which enclose the altar mensa, a funeral coffin and the altarpiece. Above this rises a curved extension on which angels have settled. According to the name plaque on the altar mensa, the altar is dedicated to Mary. While a depiction of the birth of Christ is hinted at in the extension, the altarpiece, which was surely intended to depict the Virgin Mary, is omitted. The confident design style, in which compasses and rulers were used and the precisely drawn outlines emphasized, reveals an experienced architect as an artist. D
