GRIEN, HANS BALDUNG

Grien, Hans Baldung: translation

(c. 1484/1485-1545)

German painter who received his training in Nuremberg fromAlbrecht Dürer. Grien was born into a family of academics from Schwäbisch-Gmünd. By 1500, he is documented in a workshop in Strasbourg, and in Nuremberg by 1503. He is known to have completed twoaltarpiecesfor the Cathedral of Halle (1507), specifically theThree Kings Altarpiece(Berlin, Gemäldegalerie) andSt.Sebastian(Nuremberg Museum), as well as stained glass and book illustrations in Freiburg, where he spent five years. In Freiburg, he also was charged with the cathedral's altarpiece (1512), a polyptych with scenes from the infancy of Christ and hisPassion. The macabre figures prominently in Grien's art, as exemplified by hisThree Ages of Woman and Death(1509-1511; Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum) andDeath and the Woman(c. 1517; Basel, Kunstmuseum). Grien's interest in the supernatural is best revealed in his woodcuts, including hisWitchesof 1510, one of many representations of these characters of the occult.