Programme Details

Who is the greatest German artist of the Renaissance? Conventional wisdom might suggest Durer but there is another contender - Matthias Grunewald. His altar piece painted for the hospital order of St. Anthony at Isenheim is considered by many to be the greatest masterpiece produced in northern Europe during the whole period...and its central image of a cruelly suffering Christ one of the most haunting of any era. In a special Landmark edition of Night Waves two of the work's most ardent admirers, the Turner Prize winner, Grayson Perry, and the director of the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester, Alistair Smith, will talk to Isabel Hilton about their passion for the altar piece and its enduring appeal.

Night Waves at 9.45pm here on BBC Radio 3


Presenter: Isabel Hilton
Producer: Zahid Warley



Additional information:
The Isenheim altar piece is on display at Musee d'Unterlinden at Colmar in France, and can be viewed at: http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/grunewald/crucifixion/crucifixion.jpg