Michael Pacher

Michael Pacher (c. 1435–1498) was a painter and sculptor from Tyrol, born near Brixen. Little is known of his training, but a visit to Padua brought him under the influence of Andrea Mantegna's perspective, which set him apart from most German artists of his day. By 1467 he ran a workshop making altarpieces at Bruneck in the Puster Valley. He was one of the first artists to bring the principles of Renaissance painting into Germany, joining Italian space to Northern Gothic realism in carved and painted altarpieces on a scale unmatched in the North. The St Wolfgang Altarpiece, made in 1471–81 for Abbot Benedict Eck of Mondsee, still stands in its church at St Wolfgang im Salzkammergut. The Altarpiece of the Church Fathers, made around 1483 for Neustift Monastery and now in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, shows Jerome, Augustine, Gregory and Ambrose, each accompanied by a figure or creature from his legend. He died in 1498, possibly in Salzburg. Here: Altarpiece of the Church Fathers: St Augustine and St Gregory.