HANSEALTAR · The Mobility, Meaning, Mercantile Connections of Altarpieces between Germany and Scandinavia across the Hanse Network in the Fifteenth Century

The Mobility, Meaning, Mercantile Connections of Altarpieces between Germany and Scandinavia across the Hanse Network in the Fifteenth CenturyThe Hanse trade organization functioned as a medieval trading organization before the advent of early modern global trade in the Baltic and North Sea regions. Alongside raw materials and finished goods, art objects—especially carved and painted wooden altarpieces—were manufactured and circulated along Hanse trade routes. The HANSEALTAR project will investigate the mobility of altarpieces between northern Germany and Scandinavia in the fifteenth century. In particular, this project will document, photograph, and study extant fifteenth-century altarpieces in Norway, Denmark (Jutland), and southern Sweden (Skåne) from North German workshops, especially Lübeck. Using a variety of methodologies in the field of art history including technical investigation, this project will be the first art historical study to expand the artistic reach of the Hanse to incorporate Scandinavia into a pan-European context. The consideration of these altarpieces with respect to their original context, audience, and function will give us crucial insight into the pre-modern international network of trade, as well as the daily devotional life of laypersons in the late Middle Ages. The work program of this project encompasses travel to altarpieces across Scandinavia, conference presentations at the regional, national, and international levels, peer-reviewed publications, as well as sharing source material and photography across multiple digital platforms. The HANSEALTAR will make a major contribution to our knowledge of pre-modern trade networks and the mobility of art objects before the Reformation.