The Louvre Museum in Paris has opened a major retrospective dedicated to Martin Schongauer (c. 1445–1491), the German engraver and painter from Colmar, bringing together a large portion of his known works. The exhibition features around one hundred pieces, including fifty engravings, five of his rare drawings, and nearly all of his attributed paintings—such as the "Virgin and Child at the Window" (c. 1480) from the Getty Museum and the "Orlier Altarpiece" (c. 1470–1475) from the Musée Unterlinden. The centerpiece is Schongauer's "Virgin of the Rose Bush" (1473), displayed at low height to reveal its botanical precision. Co-curated by Pantxika Béguerie De Paepe and Hélène Grollemund, the show also highlights Schongauer's influence on contemporaries and later artists through comparative works by Rogier van der Weyden and others.
This exhibition matters because it is the first large-scale retrospective ever devoted to Schongauer, an artist long overshadowed despite his extraordinary technical skill and historical importance. By reuniting works from multiple institutions and emphasizing his role as both painter and engraver, the Louvre provides a long-overdue recognition of Schongauer's mastery and his profound impact on Northern Renaissance art. The show also sheds light on the interconnected workshop practices and the circulation of prints in the 15th and 16th centuries, offering fresh insights into the period's artistic networks.