etching

Daniel Hopfer was a German armorer-cum-printmaker, in whose Augsburg-based workshop the process of printing on etched plates is thought to have originated in the early sixteenth century. Printed on two plates, this etching depicts an altar tabernacle, destroyed in 1724, that was located in the Dominican church of St. Magdalena in Augsburg. The various levels of the altar outline a narrative that begins with the figure of Jesse, positioned in a horizontal niche at the bottom of the print. Directly above Jesse is the group known as the Holy Kinship, which includes members of Christ's extended family, descended from his maternal grandmother, Saint Anne. Christ's crucifixion, flanked by the Virgin Mary and Saint John, occupies the middle portion of the altar, above which is a depiction of his Resurrection. Above the altar are Saints Peter and Paul, each holding one end of the sudarium. The altar that structures the various parts of this narrative is adorned in what has been called the "Hopfer style" of setting decorative elements against a dark background.