Conrad von Soest

Contents:

0. Preface
1. Conrad von Soest, Citizen of Dortmund
2. The Workshop and the Patron
3. Production Methods in Conrad's Workshop
4. Stylistic Considerations
5. Autograph Works and Workshop Connections
6. The Iconography of Autograph Works
7. The Westphalian Inheritance
8. Foreign Influences
9. Conrad's Legacy
10. Catalogue (The Niederwildungen Altarpiece, The Dortmund Altarpiece, Sts Dorothea and Odilia, St.Paul with  Reinold, The Froendenberg Altarpiece, The Froendenberg Painter's Madonna and Child, The St Nicholas Panel, The Bielefeld Altarpiece, The Berswordt Altarpiece, The Warendorf Altarpiece, The Darup Altarpiece, The Isseldhorst Altarpiece, The Golden Panel from Lueneburg)
11. Notes to Text and Catalogue
12. Appendices (The Marriage Contract 1394, The Niederwildungen Altarpiece Chronicle, Confraternity Service Regulations, Bull of Pope Boniface IX of November 1403, Contract for an Altarpiece of the Order of St John)
13. Bibliography
14. List of Illustrations
15. Index

Reviewers' comments

There can be no doubt of the need for a serious study of the work of Conrad von Soest. The two altarpieces in Dortmund and Bad Wildungen signed with his name are among the most beautiful of German paintings from the early fifteenth century, and other works long connected with his oeuvre... show an elegance and delight in colour ... ... to emphasise the sophisticated, European nature of the art of Conrad von Soest.' (Burlington Magazine) ..

'Conrads zentrale Rolle in der Entwicklung der nordeuropäischen Kunst wird präzise herausgearbeitet. In diesem Zusammenhang ist auch die genaue Beschreibung der Werke hervorzuheben, die im Katalog systematisch und vorbildlich ausgeführt werden. Die Autorin verschafft hier mit den bekannten und zugeschriebenen Werke Conrad von Soest und der Fülle von belegendem. Vergleichsmaterial eine gute Übersicht über dessen Werk. (Kunstform)

'The monograph is to be recommended not only to art historians but also to scholars in painting techniques painting conservators and historians of the Hanseatic League. The pleasure of reading this text is increased by the careful editorial standards.' (Artium Quaestiones)

'..elegant and serious book` (Arts Newspaper)

'This is an important book for a number of reasons. ...Dr Corley is to be congratulated on making this important artist's work more accessible..' (The Art Book)

'Die britische Kunsthistorikerin Corley belegt in ihrer detailreichen, ersten umfangreichen Monografie die Bedeutung des Malers, der den Internationalen Höfischen Stil in Norddeutschland etablierte' (art, Das Kunstmagazin)

'Was die so unterschiedlichen, jedoch gleichermassen qualitätsvollen Bücher von Alfred Stange und Brigitte Corley eint, ist ...die den Kunstwerken angemessene Sprache der Beschreibung und Bewertung. Beide Bücher sind Produkte ihrer jeweiligen Entstehungszeit und werden dennoch gleichermassen lesenswert bleiben.' (Kunstbuch Anzeiger)

Painting and Patronage in Cologne

Contents:

0. Preface
1. Sancta Colonia: a town 'beautiful beyond all others'
2. Patterns of Patronage
3. The Workshop and the Patrons
4. Painting in Cologne before 1400
5. The Master of St. Veronica and the Courtly Style
6. Cologne under the Spell of the Courtly Style
7. Stefan Lochner and the Dombild Master
8. The Influence of Netherlandish Realism
9. The Master of St. Bartholomew
10. Epilogue
11. Notes
12. Appendices (Translation of the Guild Regulations of c.1397 and 1449, Short Biographies of the Archbishops of Cologne, Short Biographies of Major Patrons, Location Handlist)
13. Bibliography
14. Index

Reviewers' comments

'Seit vielen Jahren die erste wissenschaftliche Darstellung, die, gut lesbar und umfassend bebildert, die Forschungsergebnisse der letzten funfzig Jahre berücksichtigt. Die englische Kunsthistorikerin hat vor zwei Jahren die beachtete Monographie über Conrad von Soest vorgelegt.' (Buchhandlung Walther Koenig, Köln)

'Doing for Germany what was long ago done for Italy and the Netherlands, this impressive volume presents a coherent survey of the sizeable body of painting produced in late medieval Cologne. Employing the painstaking formal analysis and attention to materials typical of the Courtauld Instititute at the University of London, UK (where she took her PhD in art history), Corley examines and describes a large number of paintings, proposing areas of influence, dates, schools, and attributions of them....The patrons of these paintings, the process by which they commissioned works, and the relation of the patron to the artists workshop are subjects of the initial chapters.....' ( Book News, Portland, OR)

'....Corley provides a comprehensive survey of artistic production in the city during the two centuries of its greatest success. Beginning with fourteenth -century exponents of the so-called "courtly style", characterized by its concern with decorative surface pattern and delight in costly materials and delicate tooling, Corley offers a chronology of artists and works. Her account devotes due attention to the interaction of native and foreign artists and highlights in particular the impact of Netherlandish painting during the second half of the fifteenth century. Stylistic analyses are supported by recent technical data and are enlivened by a delightful attention to visual detail. Her survey is informed throughout by discussion of the social, economic, political and religious context within which the works were produced. Corley performed an invaluable service in making not just the paintings themselves, but also documentation in the form of guild regulations and patrons' biographies available to readers....' (Times Literary Supplement)

'Corley ... has a breathtaking knowledge on the issues of technology of painting ... This is a very scholarly and solid piece of writing, which will undoubtedly be of use to many students of Northern art. It makes more accessible ... a wealth of material that will enrich our discussion of fifteenth-century art...' (Parergon)

'This book ..traces the development of later medieval painting in Cologne over two centuries… The narrative is divided into ten chapters, of which the first three give a useful overview of the social, economic, political climate in which the paintings under discussion were produced, while the remaining seven, arranged in chronological order, provide an authoritative account of the paintings themselves, focusing both on broader stylistic trends as well as the oeuvre of individual artists. The chapters are completed by a historiographical epilogue and four useful appendices featuring translations of guild regulations, short biographies.. and a location handlist of the paintings…This study represents an impressive achievement.' (Newsletter of the American 'Historians of Netherlandish Art')

'Mit Vergnügen und Gewinn nimmt man das Werk zur Hand, nicht zuletzt wegen der spannend geschriebenen Einleitungskapitel, die mittels vieler Quellenzitate farbkräftig Charakter und Leben ..Kölns im europäischen Kontext schildern… Ausführlich werden das Zunftwesen und die Stellung der Maler in Köln behandelt…Der Hauptteil des Buches vermittelt einen, wie nicht nur die umfangreiche Literaturliste zeigt, detailliert recherchierten Überblick über die Tafel- und Wandmalerei der beiden Jahrhunderte vor 1500 in Köln…Wie der Titel besagt, legt Brigitte Corley Gewicht auf das Stifungswesen und die Stifterpersönlichkeiten….Brigitte Corleys Buch bietet den derzeit wichtigsten Überblick über die spätmittelalterliche Malerei in Köln'. (Kunstchronik)