Branchwork

[1] Parallel to the increased appearance of branchwork in art from the last third of the 15th century, there is evidence in the treatise literature of an architectural theoretical background to this form of design that recalls Vitruvius's concept of the "Primitive Hut".

The derivation of the Gothic ogival arch from branches tied together from trees found another historical basis in De Germania by the Roman author Tacitus (c. 98 AD) which was rediscovered in the early 15th century by humanist scholars.

Cardinal Francesco Todeschini-Piccolomini (1439–1503), who was in possession of the copy of Germania of his uncle, Pope Pius II, played a decisive role in the reception of Tacitus by German scholars.

This style of an Romanesque Renaissance, understood as specifically northern Alpine antiquity, was first used in Early Netherlandish painting for depicting ancient buildings and was also received as an inspiration for new architectural motifs in Germany from around 1460 onwards.

Similarly, the monumental north portal of the Benedictine monastery church in Chemnitz, which was built in 1525 by the wood carver and stone sculpture Franz Maidburg, combines pre-Gothic (Romanesque) forms like rounded arches with branchwork.

Both the style and the figurative program with the founders of the 12th century emperor Lothair II refer here to the distant foundation of the monastery and emphasize the age and venerability of the complex.