Gathering Manna 1497 - 1499

Friedrich Brunner’s Gathering Manna is a stained-glass panel now held in New York’s Metropolitan Museum, though its country and date of origin are unknown. The image depicts a scene from the Old Testament. The Book of Exodus tells how God provided the Israelites with manna during their 40 years in the desert. Here, Brunner interprets that divine gift through a northern European lens. He uses the conventions of late-medieval art to stage the biblical story as if it were a scene from his own society. Note the costumes of the figures. The man on the lower left, with his fur-lined coat and gold staff, is dressed in the style of a local dignitary. What might it mean to present the divine as part of the here and now? Does the work seek to elevate the local community or sanctify the everyday? By examining sources from the period, such as religious treatises, local histories, and records of artistic patronage, the historian can further reveal this stained-glass panel’s meanings, especially regarding the public role of religious art in late-medieval society.