'', Colmar,
Unterlinden Museum He was recognised in his lifetime, as shown by his commissions, yet the details of his life are unusually unclear for a painter of his significance at this date. The first source to sketch his biography comes from the German art historian
Joachim von Sandrart, who describes him around 1505 working on the exterior decoration of an altarpiece by
Albrecht Dürer in
Frankfurt. As this work is typically performed by apprentices, it was estimated that he was born in 1475. Sandrart records that Grünewald's apprentice was the painter
Hans Grimmer, who became famous in his time, but most of whose works were
lost in the
Thirty Years' War. Sandrart describes Grünewald as leading a withdrawn and melancholy life, and marrying unhappily. More recent investigations have provided further information on Grünewald's life. In 1511 he became court artist of
Uriel von Gemmingen,
Archbishop of Mainz, and he also worked for the next archbishop,
Albert of Brandenburg. About 1510 he received a commission from the Frankfurt merchant Jacob Heller and settled in nearby
Frankfurt where records indicate he bought a house and married Anna, a converted
Jew, then probably aged 18. The marriage was not happy and in 1523 she was institutionalised with what is variously described as mental illness and
demonic possession. From 1512 to 1514 or 1515 he worked on the Isenheim altarpiece, apparently in partnership with another Mathis, variously surnamed Nithart, Neithart, von Würzburg (after his
place of birth), or Gothardt. Grünewald seems to have left Isenheim in a hurry, returning to Frankfurt, and his subsequent poverty suggests he was not fully paid for the altarpiece. In 1527 he entered the services of the wealthy and noble von Erbach family, apparently with a child (whether his own or adopted, is unclear). He most probably died in 1532, although sources vary. There has been considerable uncertainty about the details of his life. In 1938 Walter Karl Zülch published the theory that Grünewald and his partner Nithart/Gothardt were the same person; this Nithart/Gothardt was a painter, engineer, and "water artist" born in Würzburg in the 1460s or maybe 1470s and probably dying in 1528. This theory is now generally discredited, although more recent historians believe Nithart/Gothardt may have pretended to be Grünewald for business reasons. ==Works==