# St Wolfgang Altarpiece: Nativity

[View the canonical artwork record](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/pacher-michael-r16b2c2b4dafc31/st-wolfgang-altarpiece-nativity-r7804077ee8ed5f>)

## Artwork

- Artist: [PACHER, Michael](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/pacher-michael-r16b2c2b4dafc31>)
- Date: 1451-1500
- Technique: Wood, 173 x 140,5 cm

## Commentary

Although the St Wolfgang Altarpiece shows a purely German emotionalism, the richness of the brocades, the attention given to the structure of the bodies and the landscape, the bold foreshortenings and viewpoints and finally the complete mastery of the use of light, show the influence exerted on Pacher&#39;s work by the school of Mantegna and of Giovanni Bellini. This new understanding of one of the essential problems of Renaissance painting, &#39;namely composition in depth rendered by means of linear and aerial perspective, must have been in the nature of a revelation to the German school, which had ignored the achievement of Witz. It was Pacher, together with Rueland Frueauf the Younger of Salzburg, with their great perception of the charms of the rural setting, who paved the way for the \` landscapists &#39; of the Danube school whose work influenced the still expressionistic Cranach at the beginning of the 16th century. &lt;P&gt; &lt;TABLE ALIGN=LEFT CELLPADDING=5 BORDER=1 WIDTH=320 BGCOLOR=&#34;\#99CCCC&#34;&gt; &lt;TR VALIGN=MIDDLE&gt;&lt;TD&gt;&lt;IMG SRC=&#34;/support/gif/listen.gif&#34; BORDER=0 VALIGN=MIDDLE&gt; Suggested listening \(streaming mp3, 2 minutes\):&lt;BR&gt;&lt;A HREF=&#34;\#&#34; onClick=&#34;w=window.open \(&#39;/music1/16\_cent/praetorius\_motet.html&#39;, &#39;newWin&#39;, &#39;scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=350,height=350&#39;\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return true&#34;&gt;&lt;B&gt;Michael Praetorius: Motet&lt;/B&gt;&lt;/A&gt; &lt;/TD&gt;&lt;/TR&gt;&lt;/TABLE&gt;

## Related artworks

- [Altarpiece of the Church Fathers](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/pacher-michael-r16b2c2b4dafc31/altarpiece-of-the-church-fathers-r9ddb3ea86f6563>)
- [Altarpiece of the Church Fathers: St Augustine and St Gregory](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/pacher-michael-r16b2c2b4dafc31/altarpiece-of-the-church-fathers-st-augustine-and-st-gregory-r78d6826f7e6659>)
- [Altarpiece of the Church Fathers: St Augustine Liberating a Prisoner](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/pacher-michael-r16b2c2b4dafc31/altarpiece-of-the-church-fathers-st-augustine-liberating-a-prisoner-rdc8ce157785e47>)
- [Altarpiece of the Church Fathers: St Jerome](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/pacher-michael-r16b2c2b4dafc31/altarpiece-of-the-church-fathers-st-jerome-rbca335a8d8c0c0>)
- [Altarpiece of the Church Fathers: Vision of St Sigisbert](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/pacher-michael-r16b2c2b4dafc31/altarpiece-of-the-church-fathers-vision-of-st-sigisbert-r7f9c9d1230debf>)
- [Annunciation](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/pacher-michael-r16b2c2b4dafc31/annunciation-rb6027bd6f93797>)
- [Coronation of the Virgin between St Wolfgang and St Benedict](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/pacher-michael-r16b2c2b4dafc31/coronation-of-the-virgin-between-st-wolfgang-and-st-benedict-r0381566bd26a15>)
- [Coronation of the Virgin](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/pacher-michael-r16b2c2b4dafc31/coronation-of-the-virgin-r1c24d6ebed4782>)
- [Flagellation](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/pacher-michael-r16b2c2b4dafc31/flagellation-r0fb7d64e706e96>)
- [Mary of Burgundy](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/pacher-michael-r16b2c2b4dafc31/mary-of-burgundy-r9af70825f64d55>)
- [St Catherine](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/pacher-michael-r16b2c2b4dafc31/st-catherine-r346e22e3aa9134>)
- [St Lawrence Distributing the Alms](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/pacher-michael-r16b2c2b4dafc31/st-lawrence-distributing-the-alms-r4498644f8b7a04>)

## Attribution

[Web Gallery of Art](<https://beta.wga.hu/pages/about>)