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

ABSTRACT: 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

SUBMITTER: Kloppmann W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9004741 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature