A pan-European art trade in the late middle ages: Isotopic evidence on the master of Rimini enigma

The identity of artists and localisation of workshops are rarely known with certainty before the mid-15th century. We investigated the material used by one of the most prolific and enigmatic medieval sculptors, the Master of the Rimini Altarpiece or Master of Rimini, active around 1420–40. The isotope fingerprints (Sr, S and O) of a representative corpus of masterpieces but also minor artworks, attributed to the Master of Rimini and his workshop, are virtually identical, demonstrating the unity of the corpus and a material evidence behind the stylistic and iconographic ascriptions. The material used is exclusively Franconian (N-Bavarian) alabaster, 600 km distant from the supposed zone of activity of the Master of Rimini workshop according to recent literature. The same material was later used by the prominent Late Medieval German carver Tilman Riemenschneider, active in Würzburg after 1483, whose small corpus of alabaster sculptures we have been able to characterize almost entirely. Based on these findings, we propose here an alternative to the prevailing hypothesis of a Flemish or N-French workshop being founded on similarities of the Rimini sculpture with motives in Flemish and French painting. Our scenario, returning to the initial proposal of a German localisation of the Master of Rimini workshop, assumes the migration of an artist, perhaps trained in the Low Countries or strongly inspired by the Flemish art, to Southern Germany where he founded a highly productive export workshop, well situated on the crossroads of medieval trade, with a pan-European radiance. This study sheds a spotlight on the on the trade networks of luxury goods, the raw material used for their production, and the high-end art market in Europe as well as on international migration of artists and styles, at the eve of the Renaissance.


S1 Appendix Complementary findings on the 1431 purchase of the Wrocław alabaster group by the abbot Jodocus for the Augustinian monastery of our Lady of the Sand from a French merchant
Only two written sources from the period of activity of the Rimini workshop are known referring to international trade of alabaster sculptures potentially linked to the Rimini group. One is part of the records of Abbot Jodocus of the Augustinian monastery of Wrocław who acquired in 1431 a Crucifixion group from a "Parisian" merchant. This source is all the more noteworthy as one surviving sculpture from this Crucifixion has been identified, the Swooning of the Virgin group, now conserved in the National Museum of Warsaw. It is included in the corpus of our study (Fig. 2C).
The obscure expression "parysiis in montanis" referring to the origin of the sculpture has been subject to discussion since this source was first related to the Wrocław Swooning Virgin by Scheyer in 1933 [1]. He explains the phrase "qui mercator affirmavit praefatam imaginem crucifixi sculptam parysiis in montanis" in the following way: The Parisian merchant claims a Parisian origin of the sculpture, "parysiis in montanis" referring to the topography of the "hilly" Paris and perhaps to the Montmartre gypsum deposits, even if he judges this hypothesis as unlikely. All later literature cites the expression after Scheyer (1933).
Based on an earlier reference and on the original manuscripts conserved in the University Library of Wrocław (references IV Q 205, ff. 37v-64 chart. and V F 200b, pp. 69-111 chart.), we propose a new reading of this passage, crucial for the Rimini research, and postulate that the enigmatic expression is in fact a transcription error.
Indeed, after Stenzel (1839) [2], p. 223, the original manuscript of Jodocus has been lost and two transcriptions exist, one from 1470 by the successor of Jodocus and the other from the beginning of the 17 th century. Stenzel edits the older version and here the decisive phrase reads: "qui mercator affirmavit, prefatam ymaginem crucifixi sculptam in Parisius cum montanis" (S1 Fig.). This expression "cum montanis" could refer to the physical support of the Crucifixion group, in form of mountains, so that the phrase can be translated as "This merchant confirmed that the crucified Christ's representation had been sculpted, together with mountains/with a mountain-shaped base, in Paris". This would mean that "montanis" refers to a Calvary-type arrangement for the Wrocław ensemble, similar to the alabaster Crucifixion conserved in the Halberstadt cathedral (Germany), made by a sculptor inspired by the Rimini Crucifixion or another altarpiece from the Rimini workshop [3] (S3 Fig.). In Halberstadt, the sculptures are based on a wooden structure in form of hills and assembled as a "Kalvarienberg", a Calvary. It is likely that this altarpiece is still in its original position and in its original order [3]. This reading of "montanis" as "mountain-shaped support" for the Wrocław group is supported by the following passages in Stenzel's version, mentioning, for another ensemble of sculptures: "montana minerarum, artificialiter et subtiliter multum facta", "mineral mountains, made with great art and refinement", supporting groups of small figures, which have later collapsed by negligence of the sacristans.
In the following, we present the original Latin text of the 1470 transcription of Jodocus' lost manuscript in Stenzel's edition as well as an English translation, based on the translation into German kindly provided by Prof. Dr. Gerhard Weilandt (University of Greifswald) and on the initial French translation kindly rendered by Françoise Lami, Orléans. "Likewise, in the year of the Lord 1431, around the feast of Saint John Baptist, the Abbot Jodocus bought from a certain merchant from Paris an altar table/shrine with the crucified Christ, which was made of alabaster, with associated parts, situated at/in the altar of Saint Augustine, for 40 Hungarian guilders/florins. This merchant confirmed that the crucified Christ's representation had been sculpted, together with mountains/with a mountain-shaped base (cum montanis), in Paris, but this merchant had the altar table/shrine for this sculpture made in Wrocław, for which he spent 10 marks of pennies. And in the same year, on the day of Saint Elisabeth, the same Abbot Jodocus paid Johann Crommendorff, goldsmith, 20 marks of thick groats/Groschen in gold on the account of this altar table/shrine and the related works, as it is written in the book of his notes. Likewise, in the same year, the Abbot Jodocus bought from a certain Smedchen, citizen of Breslau, certain mineral mountains (montana minerarum), made with great art and refinement, with the Three Kings and miners and Saint Christopher and other small and delicate representations for 26 Hungarian guilders/florins. These mountains/mountain-shaped base (montana) later collapsed, broke and were lost due to the carelessness of the sacristans of the church." In the 1609 copy, the passage "Parisius cum montanis" initially read, like in the original, "parisiůs ců (m) mó (n)tanis" but was changed by a later hand into "parisiis in montanis" by transforming the "ů" of "parisiůs" into a double "i" and the "c" of "ců (m)" into an "i" and the "ů" into an "n" (S2 Fig.).
These findings imply that the passage clearly refers to a Parisian origin of the Wrocław group, the suspicious expression "in montanis" being identified as transcription error. Even though, the affirmation of the merchant is to be taken with precaution, as it might have been in his interest to mention Paris as prestigious centre of art production.
It further suggests that the Wrocław group was part of a Calvary and that the supporting wooden structure was delivered together with the alabaster figures whereas the corresponding shrine (tabula) was later produced in Wrocław. This sheds new light on the exportation and the arrangement of large alabaster ensembles as the one in Halberstadt but also the Rimini Crucifixion now conserved in Frankfurt, for which a Calvary-type arrangement could be equally envisaged. 26 [19,23]. By tradition from a monastery in Bamberg (Germany) [22], acquired by the Rijksmuseum in 1960.   [19,23]. By tradition from a monastery in Bamberg (Germany) [22], acquired by the Rijksmuseum in 1960.