Klosterneuburg Altar - All Panels
Nicholas of Verdun's best known work is the altar (1181) for the Abbey Church of Klosterneuburg, near Vienna, Austria. This began as an enamelled pulpit frontal, which was damaged in 1320 and then reconstructed into its present triptych altarpiece form. A complex work of Biblical art, featuring 45 enamelled copper plaques decorated with scenes from the Old and New Testaments, it exemplifies his mastery of champlevé enamelling, a technique in which compartments hollowed out of a metal base are filled with coloured vitreous enamel. Similar to the Shrine of the Three Kings at Cologne Cathedral, figures appearing in the scenes have individualized faces and intricately articulated drapery, indicating the influence of Classical Antiquity - that is, Greek sculpture. This classical influence heralds the decline of the (Roman-based) Romanesque style and the advent of (Greek influenced) Gothic art.
