'Anna Selbdritt'

Description

The medieval image known as Anna Selbdritt, or zu dritt (in a group of three) as it would be in modem German, represented Mary's mother St Anne, the Virgin herself and the Christchild. This group differs from older representations in which Mary was a tiny attribute of St Anne since all the figures have relatively realistic proportions. The group came to the Museum from a pilgrimage church near Bad Burg in the upper Birsigtal, but it was probably moved to this location, perhaps from Basle as a consequence of the 1529 Reformation. With two accompanying figures of St Agnes and St Barbara, also in the Museum, this Anna Selbdritt is attributed to a Basle woodcarver who combined influence from the Upper Rhine Master H.L. with older Basle traditions. His works are diffused in a wide area around Basle, into Alsace, the region around Baden and in Switzerland.