THE “LEANING BUST” THEME

Fully to appreciate the extent of Nicholas of Leydens influence, we may take as a point of reference the theme of the ‘leaning bust.” In Strasbourg itself and in the Upper Rhine, the popularity of this theme was considerable among the the great master’s followers. But they seized above all on the anecdotal character of these “spectator” figures and lingered over the minute delineation of human features, sometimes almost trivially emphasized to the detriment of inner life. Expressive power prevailed iu the work of Nicholas of Haguenau, recorded in Strasbourg from 1485 to 5526, who carried out varied and important works such as the altarpiece of the high altar of the cathedral, the Fronaltar (tsos), and who is credited with the carvings of the famous Issenheim altarpiece (Unterlinden Museum, Colmar). His contemporary, Veit Waguer, active from 5492 at Haguenau aud Strasbourg, also repeated the leaning bust theme, almost caricaturally, for the altar— piece, commissioned iu 1500, for the Strasbourg church of Saint—Pierre—le—Vicux.
In the footsteps of Nicholas of Leyden, in Coustance aud in Vienna, sculptors like Heinrich Iselin (active at Constance from 1477 until his death iu 55,3) and Anton Pilgram (active at Heilbronn, Brno and Vienna from 5481 to isis) interpreted in their turn the traditional model introduced into the decoration of stalls, pulpits and tabernacles. However, in Ulm Cathedral the leaning figures, attributed to different sculptors, which surmount the reveals of the stalls commissioned from thejoinerJiirg Syrlin the Elder in ‘469 and completed in 5474, adopt only the formal aspect of the subject and betray a spirit alien to the style that issued from the Strasbourg milieu.