Making and Meaning-Making: The Antwerp Altarpiece in Ringsaker (c. 1530) across the Reformation
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Ragnhild M. Bø
Abstract
Antwerp altarpieces produced between c. 1500–1540 could be remarkably similar and have often been regarded as epitomising the shift from bespoke commissions to standardized objects made to be sold on an open market. The only (preserved) Antwerp altarpiece imported to Norway was commissioned by the priest Ansten Jonsson Skonk and put on display in the parish church of Ringsaker shortly before the Reformation was introduced in Denmark-Norway in 1537. Unique in Norway, the altarpiece is of uncommon character even within the larger body of preserved Antwerp pieces. When analysing the many idiosyncrasies of the Ringsaker altarpiece, it comes across as a deliberately versatile product: on the one hand it carefully reflects altarpieces and devotional practices known to Skonk; on the other, it also reflects contemporary religious disputes of northern Europe more broadly, substantiating the claim that (some) Antwerp workshops intentionally created “multi-confessional” artworks – seemingly to suit the patron(s) in question once installed.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Wim François (KU Leuven) for commenting on an earlier draft; Kathryn Boyer for meticulous proof reading; and the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable and much appreciated feedback.
© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Making and Meaning-Making: The Antwerp Altarpiece in Ringsaker (c. 1530) across the Reformation
- Remembering the Dead and Reminding the Living: Blessing of the Corpse and Burial in Sixteenth-Century Sweden
- Alfonso de Castro on Vernacular Bible Translation and Christian Education
- The Origins of the Furnace Motif: From Magico-Religious Ritual to Early Modern Tale of Makeability
- Ex Meritis Praevisis: Predestination, Grace, and Free Will in intra-Jesuit Controversies (1587-1613)
- Uneasy Agents of Tridentine Reforms: Catholic Missionaries in Southern Ottoman Hungary and Their Local Competitors in the Early Seventeenth Century
- Shaping the Profession: Some Thoughts on Office, Duty, and the Moral Problematisation of Professional Activities in the Counter-Reformation
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Making and Meaning-Making: The Antwerp Altarpiece in Ringsaker (c. 1530) across the Reformation
- Remembering the Dead and Reminding the Living: Blessing of the Corpse and Burial in Sixteenth-Century Sweden
- Alfonso de Castro on Vernacular Bible Translation and Christian Education
- The Origins of the Furnace Motif: From Magico-Religious Ritual to Early Modern Tale of Makeability
- Ex Meritis Praevisis: Predestination, Grace, and Free Will in intra-Jesuit Controversies (1587-1613)
- Uneasy Agents of Tridentine Reforms: Catholic Missionaries in Southern Ottoman Hungary and Their Local Competitors in the Early Seventeenth Century
- Shaping the Profession: Some Thoughts on Office, Duty, and the Moral Problematisation of Professional Activities in the Counter-Reformation
