Bernt Notke (†1509)

The Triumphal Cross.

Bernt Notke is mentioned in about 50 documents. This is an unusually large number compared to many other medieval artists. Unfortunately must of them are court documents where Notke in many cases only appears as a witness and thus they only tell us that Notke was present in this and that city - at this and that time. To sketch out his life then becomes a game of connect-the-dots.

The Mass of St. Gregory in Århus Cathedral by Bernt Notke; click to see the entire painting.

The first time Notke was mentioned in any document was in Lübeck 14^th April 1467 where he complained to the city council that the painters guild were harassing his apprentices because he was not a member of the guild. On this occasion, Notke produced at birth letter (not a birth certificate) from Lassahn, Pomerania.

This does not prove that he was born in Lassahn - only that he knew somebody in Lassahn well enough to vouch for him. It's more likely that he was born in Tallinn: Notke is not an unusual name in the Tallinn-area, and a letter from 23^rd August 1468 indicates that Notke was related to the Tallinn vicar Diderik Notken.

From 1483 he spent some years in Sweden and for a time he was Deputy Master of the Mint in Stockholm. In 1505 he was appointed churchwarden in St. Peter's Church in Lübeck - a position that meant managing the church's tile works, which sold bricks to Scandinavia. In 1509 he was referred to as dead.

There are only 3 works, still existing, that are demonstrably made by Notke:

The Man of Sorrows from the High Altar in the Church of the Holy Ghost in Tallinn, click the coloured areas.

• The High Altar in Århus' Cathedral: We still have a transcript of Notke's receipt for payment. The price was 800 German mark and as a tip Notke was given a horse - worth 20 mark. Thus the price of the altar was the same as 40 horses.
• The High Altar in the Church of the Holy Ghost in Tallinn: In contrast the handsome tip Notke received in Århus, we have several letters where Notke had to press for the final payment of the altar in Tallinn.
• The Triumphal Cross in Lübeck's Cathedral: Inside the figure of John a note on parchment paper was found - telling in plain words that this figure was made by Notke's workshop in 1472. Later some chalk writings were found inside the figure of Mary. These rather illegible scrawls has been interpreted as proof that Notke made Mary as well. This is a rather fanciful interpretation, but nevertheless the entire Triumphal Cross is usually attributed to Notke.

Naturally Notke has made more than these 3 works, but some are lost and for a lot of works the artist is simply unknown. Three works that often are attributed to Notke are St. George and the Dragon in Stockholm, The Mass of St. Gregory and The Trinity Altarpiece in Lübeck. The big question (when it comes to this site) is whether Bernt Notke painted the dances of death in Lübeck and Tallinn

Sources used in this section about Notke

The Triumphal Cross.

• Erik Moltke: Bernt Notke's Altertavle i Århus Domkirke og Tallinntavlen, 1970. (Danish book with chapter summaries and captions in German)
• Erik Moltke: Aarbøger for nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie, 1976, pp. 124 - 139 (with German summary)
• Die Bau- und Kunstdenkmäler der freien und Hansestadt Lübeck, Vol. 2, Lübeck 1906
• Carl Georg Heise: Die Gregorsmesse in der Lübecker Marienkirche, Zeitschrift des Deutschen Vereins für Kunstwissenschaft, 1937 pp. 76 -92
• Carl Georg Heise: Der Lübecker Totentanz von 1463, Zeitschrift des Deutschen Vereins für Kunstwissenschaft, 1937 pp. 187 - 202
• M. Lumiste and S. Globatschowa: Zeitschrift des Deutschen Vereins für Kunstwissenschaft, 1969 pp. 123 - 138
• Max Hasse: Bernt Notke, Zeitschrift des Deutschen Vereins für Kunstwissenschaft, 1970 pp. 76 - 92
• Gerhard Eimer: Bernt Notke : das Wirken eines niederdeutschen Künstlers im Ostseeraum, 1985
• Biographisches Lexikon für Schleswig-Holstein und Lübeck (vol. 7, 143-145)
• Neue Deutsche Biographie (vol. 9, 359-360)
• Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopädie (vol. 7, 442-443)
• Lübeck aufgenommen von Wilhelm Castelli, Hans Arnold Gräbke, 1953

Bernt Notke:

• Did Bernt Notke paint the dances of death in Lübeck and Tallinn?
• St. George and the Dragon in Stockholm's cathedral (attributed to Notke)
• Is St. George and the dragon an allegory over the battle of Brunkeberg?
• Has Bernt Notke created St. George and the dragon?
• The Mass of St. Gregory in Marienkirche in Lübeck (attributed to Notke)
• The Trinity altarpiece in Lübeck (attributed to Notke)
• Photos of the painting in St. Mary's Church in Lübeck
• Photos of the painting in St. Nikolai's Church in Tallinn.
• Is the fragment in Tallinn a remnant from Lübeck?
• How good a copy was the painting from 1701 of the painting from 1463?
• Milde's lithographs of the painting.
• The mass of St. Gregory and the man of sorrows

Dansk Lübeck's dance of death St. Mary's Church Bernt Notke

Alternate spelling: bernd notken