This time, the research team of the project “Michel Sittow in the North?” focused on the masters active in Tallinn during the Late Middle Ages.
The first days of November were truly exciting and busy for the team of the project “Michel Sittow in the North?” The research project focuses on two altarpieces associated with Michel Sittow – the Passion Altarpiece in Tallinn and the Bollnäs Holy Kinship Altarpiece in Sweden.
Master Michel worked in Tallinn during two periods in his life and the paintings on the outer wings of the Passion Altarpiece were apparently made in his home town Tallinn. Here, he had a workshop, as well as assistants. Our primary research questions are: Was the Bollnäs Holy Kinship Altarpiece made in Sittow’s workshop in Tallinn? Who were the masters active in Tallinn in the beginning of the 16th century and which works could be associated with them? This time, the research took us to our home town Tallinn, as well as across the gulf to Helsinki, to the National Museum of Finland.
In Tallinn, works in the collection of the Art Museum of Estonia were comprehensively viewed. Our interest was focused on the Cenotaph of Hans Pawels on the wall of the Lady Chapel of St Olaf’s Church. The member of our team Jan Friedrich Richter has already earlier associated the work with the Bollnäs altarpiece. In the National Museum of Finland we were welcomed by Sanna Teittinen (Head of Collections and Research), Jouni Kuurne (Curator of the Historical Collection) and Henni Reijonen (Conserver). Art historian Elina Räsänen, the Finnish member of our team, also joined us. The busy workdays were summed up during a short seminar at the Niguliste Museum, where, under the leadership of Andres Uueni, the preliminary results of the week of research in Bollnäs at the end of September and the beginning of October, were viewed.
