15―16世紀のオランダとドイツの彫刻

Works by masters from Northern Europe whose works bridged two periods – the Late Middle Ages and the Early Renaissance – are displayed in this gallery. European humanists of those times promoted more earthly values as a counterbalance to the omnipotence of the Church. The Protestant movement was coming to the fore in Europe and, in Germany, this found expression in the Reformation (1517-1550). Among those who were charting new paths in German sculpture in that period were Erasmus Grasser and the leading light among German sculptors, Tilman Riemenschneider, who lived at the time of the Reformation and took part in the Peasants' War (1524-1526).