The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Vertically-oriented tempera painting depicting three men kneeling before an alter over which appears Christ, nude save for a white cloth around his waist, and arms spread wide showing the bleeding wounds on his hands, feet, and the gash on his right side. Behind him float the symbols of his passion, including a spear and sponge on a stick crossed behind his haloed head. More clusters of people flank the alter, all with light skin tone.

The Mass of Saint Gregory

1511

Hans Baldung

(German, 1484/85–1545)
Germany, Strassburg, 16th century
oil and tempera on wood
Framed: 126 x 142.5 x 8.5 cm (49 5/8 x 56 1/8 x 3 3/8 in.); Unframed: 89.2 x 125 cm (35 1/8 x 49 3/16 in.)
Gift of the Hanna Fund 1952.112
Location: 111 German and Austrian Gothic

Did You Know?

Saint Gregory was a 6th-century pope and one of the fathers of the early Roman church. The artist, Hans Baldung, chose to depict the historical legend of Gregory's vision in a scene reminiscent of his own time period, 900 years after this pope actually lived.

Description

Saint Gregory was a late 6th-century pope and one of the fathers of the early Roman Church. This painting depicts the popular legend in which Gregory once overheard an onlooker express doubts about Christ’s actual presence at the altar during mass. In response, the saint’s immense faith was rewarded by a vision of Christ surrounded by the instruments and symbols of his passion. Saint Gregory, vested in his chasuble, kneels in the center, flanked by priests who share his amazement. This painting was part of an altarpiece commissioned by Erhard Künig, a member of a charitable lay order for a monastery near Strassburg. Künig stands at the far right wearing a Maltese cross. The two wings of the altar, showing respectively Saint John the Evangelist and Saint John the Baptist, are in New York and Washington. Hans Baldung was both a painter and a printmaker and is regarded as one of the most gifted students of Albrecht Dürer.
  • St. John's Convent, Strasbourg, as late as the 18th century; (listed in an inventory of 1741); Marquis de Villefranche; Henkell coll., Wiesbaden; (Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York)
  • Francis, Henry. "'Mass of St. Gregory' by Hans Baldung Grien." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 39, no. 7 (September 1952): 184-187. Reproduced: p. 180-181; Mentioned: p. 184-187 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 461 archive.org
    Francis, Henry. "The Stag Hunt." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 46, no. 9 (November 1959): 198-205. Mentioned: p. 200 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 110 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 110 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 88 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. Mentioned: p. 160-162; Reproduced: p. 161
    Bé, Kenneth. "Conservation Treatment of the Pintoricchio Madonna and Child." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 8 (1991): 360-73. Mentioned: p. 373, p. 364 www.jstor.org
    "1992 Annual Report." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 80, no. 6 (1993): 215-95. Mentioned: p. 238 www.jstor.org
    Strickland, Debra Higgs. The Epiphany of Hieronymus Bosch: Imagining Antichrist and Others from the Middle Ages to the Reformation. London: Harvey Miller Publishers, 2016. Mentioned: p. 152, 157, 185; Reproduced: p. 154, fig. 58
    Holger Jacob-Friesen. Hans Baldung Grien: Heilig, Unheilig. Berlin: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2019. Mentioned & reproduced: pp. 136-139, fig. 44
    Dal Prà, Laura, Marina Carmignani, and Paolo Peri. Fili d'oro e dipinti di seta: velluti e ricami tra Gotico e Rinascimento. 2019. Reproduced and mentioned: pp. 147-148, fig. 96
  • Hans Baldung Grien. Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Germany (organizer) (November 30, 2019-March 8, 2020) https://www.kunsthalle-karlsruhe.de/en/exhibition/hans-baldung-grien-2/.
    Draped in Splendor: Renaissance Textiles and the Church. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 7, 2003-September 26, 2004).
    Hans Baldung Grien. Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Germany (organizer) (July 4-September 27, 1959).
    In Memoriam: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr.. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 4-April 7, 1958).
  • {{cite web|title=The Mass of Saint Gregory|url=false|author=Hans Baldung|year=1511|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1952.112