Which German Renaissance painter created the 'Isenheim Altarpiece'?

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Matthias Grünewald created the painted panels of the Isenheim Altarpiece.

Made between about 1512 and 1516, the altarpiece was commissioned for the Antonine monastery at Isenheim, near Colmar, Alsace. The monastery cared for people suffering from plague and ergotism, a disease caused by contaminated grain. Grünewald’s Crucifixion shows Christ covered with lesions resembling those suffered by the patients, offering a powerful image of shared suffering.

The work is a complex polyptych with multiple hinged views. Grünewald painted scenes including the Crucifixion, Annunciation, Resurrection, and the Temptation of Saint Anthony. The carved central shrine and figures were made by Nikolaus Hagenauer, so Grünewald was the painter rather than the sole maker of every part. The altarpiece is now displayed at the Unterlinden Museum in Colmar.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Aug. 2026

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