Christoph Scheller (attributed to)

Scheller was a sculptor active in Memmingen and a regular collaborator with the Strigel family workshop. His only securely documented work is the altarpiece for the Veitskappelle in the Liebfrauenkirche in Schwaz, Austria, of 1511. It was Albrecht Miller who first associated Scheller with the sculptures for the altarpieces that Berhnard Strigel executed at the end of his career, demonstrating that both artists were working in Memmingen at the same time. While the attribution to Scheller of the two saints in the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection is not unanimously accepted, the style of the central figure in the Saint Vitus Altarpiece in the Veitskapelle and Saint Anthony in the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection is clearly comparable. Scheller’s style is characterised by his manner of depicting the draperies, using large areas of colour broken by small, sharp folds. He also deployed a distinctive approach to the faces, which have broad features and prominent cheekbones, with the hair arranged in thick locks. Scheller did not have a wide repertoire of images and used the same figure type on repeated occasions.