Lübeck's Dance of Death

The Mass of St. Gregory

Two witnesses to the mass of St. Gregory.

The mass of St. Gregory; click to see the entire painting.

This work was attributed to Notke already in 1898 and the attribution is generally uncontested. The Mass of St. Gregory is/was a masterwork and one may wonder how the art historians can nominate Notke as the master - considering that the only paintings that are provably made by Notke - namely the altars in Århus and Tallinn - are much more primitively executed.

To these doubters the experts offer a number of explain-alls:

Carl Georg Heise: The works in Århus and Tallinn were executed by several assistents - whereas Notke has worked more with his own hand on the Mass of St. Gregory.(1)
Mai Lumiste: The dance of Death in Tallinn is only indirectly related to the altar paintings in Århus and Tallinn - which were executed by assistents and are of a low quality. The dance of death share the high quality with the Mass of St. Gregory. The quality of Notke's work is unstable - good works alternate with weaker ones(2)
Max Hasse: Notke was more careful with works destined for his own city than with export articles.(3)

Thus armed with irrefutable arguments we are able to ignore physical evidence and to attribute The Mass of St. Gregory, the dances of death and any other painting to this "Michelangelo of the North", the mysterious and demoniacal Bernt Notke.

The painting used to hang in St. Mary's church until it perished under the bombardment in 1942. Very detailed photographs have been taken in black and white, but unfortunately the only colour photo is very reddish.

Did Notke paint The Mass of St. Gregory? I'll tell you — if you'll tell me when it was painted.

Further information:

God's wounds and the Mass of St. Gregory
Did Bernt Notke paint the dances of death in Lübeck and Tallinn?
St. George and the Dragon (also 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 Trinity altarpiece in Lübeck (attributed to Notke)
The Triumphal Cross in Lübeck's Cathedral
Photos of the painting in Marienkirche in Lübeck.
Photos of the painting in St. Nicholas' Church in Tallinn.

Footnotes: (1) (2) (3)

Carl Georg Heise page 77: "Sowohl in Aarhus als in Reval ist die Beteiligung vieler "Hände" ganz offensichtlich" and page 79: "Was er etwa in diesem Altersjahrzehnt an Kunstwerken noch geschaffen haben sollte, das wird, mit größerer Wahrscheinlichkeit als die Arbeiten aus der Zeit des Hochbetriebs in den reifen Mannesjahren, ohne wesentliche Gesellenhilfe von seiner eigenen Hand ausgeführt worden sein".

Mai Lumiste page 127: "Die Beziehungen des Totentanzes zu den Altargemälden von Århus und von Tallinn sind nur indirekt. Die Qualität dieser Altäre, die hauptsächlich von Gehilfen angefertigt worden sind, ist um vieles geringer als die des Totentanzes." and page 128: "Der Tallinner Totentanz rückt dadurch in die Nähe von Notkes späteren Werken, besonders seines Meisterwerkes - der Gregormesse (ca. 1504) [...] Meist ist die Qualität von Notkes Werken unstabil; Gutgemaltes wechselt ab mit Schwächerem."

Max Hasse page 34: "Die Lübecker Meister haben nachweislich Aufträge für auswärts um einige Grade sorgloser ausgeführt als die Aufträge für den bereich der Stadt.".