The Retable of the Main Altar from the Parish Church of Saint John the Baptist in Łekno (German: Bast), Dating from 1588

Abstract

The triptych from Łekno was painted in 1588 and commissioned by one of the five sons of Duke Philip I of Wolgast of the Griffin dynasty. The painter, who signed the work with the initials CS (and may perhaps be identified as Christoff Schreiber), used graphic patterns in the composition of biblical scenes and included crypto-portraits of Griffin rulers in the depictions of the Last Supper and Crucifixion. After Anna of Stettin married Ulrich III of Mecklenburg, another (also unknown) artist repainted the face of one of the apostles into a high-quality portrait of the duke of Mecklenburg.