St Mary laments as her Son hangs on the Cross. Detail of damaged sandstone Calvary of circa 1515 by German sculptor Hans Backoffen (1460-1519), one of the chief exponents of the “Gothic Baroque” style. Backoffen’s Calvary, beside the Stadtkirche or town church in Bad Wimpfen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, was carved for the grave of a former mayor.
Bad Wimpfen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany: detail of damaged sandstone Calvary sculpted circa 1515 by Late Gothic artist Hans Backoffen (1460-1519), who was born in Mainz, Germany, and was one of the chief exponents of the so-called “Gothic Baroque” style. Backoffen is believed to have studied in Würzburg with master sculptor and woodcarver Tilman Riemanschneider (), one of the most prolific and versatile German artists of the transition between the Late Gothic and Renaissance periods. Riemenschneider was a master in stone and limewood and Backoffen was another important exponent of a style that has sometimes been classified as “Gothic Baroque”. The badly weathered Calvary stands in the former ossuary in the churchyard of Bad Wimpfen’s town church and is now protected from the elements by an added roof. Wimpfen was settled by the Celts around 450BC and was the location of a Roman fort in the first century AD. Around 1300 it became a free imperial city but the Thirty Years War accelerated its decline and the former imperial palace and parts of the town were used as quarries for reconstruction. In 1817 the Ludwigshalle salt works were founded, which gradually turned Wimpfen into a popular spa resort. In 1930 the town finally received the title “Bad" (Bath).
Size: 2581px × 2581px
Location: Stadtkirche, town church, Bad Wimpfen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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