Who donated the group of sculptures depicting the crucified Christ, the Virgin Mary, and John the Evangelist to Tallinn’s Cathedral, and when was it donated?

The butcher Herman Rahr (Rohr), who was a Toompea burgher and the elder of the Toomgild (Cathedral Guild), commissioned the group of sculptures on the theme of Calvary and donated it to the church. According to Sten Karling, Rahr had expressed his wish to donate a crucifix to the church shortly after the fire that ravaged Toompea and Tallinn’s Cathedral in 1684. He carried out his wish ten years later.

The sign registering Hermann Rahr’s donation was attached to the base of the Calvary on the side of the chancel arch’s crossbeam bearing the figures that faced the altar. Herman Rahr was a wealthy man who owned many houses and made other donations.

What can the Calvary of Tallinn’s Cathedral be compared with?

It is best to compare the figure of the crucified Christ in Tallinn’s Cathedral to the crucifix in Koeru Church, which was carved around 1700. The Calvary at Tallinn’s Cathedral also has a number of features in common with the Kullamaa Church Calvary, which was completed a dozen years earlier (1682) – especially in reference to the Virgin Mary and John the Evangelist, but also in reference to the figure of Christ.

While Christ’s head and the folds of his loincloth in Tallinn’s Cathedral differ from those of the Christ in Kullamaa, the treatment of the contours, armpits, and knees of the statue’s body, and even that of the diamond-cut style of the heads of the wooden nails hammered into the hands and feet of the statue, is identical.

The figure of the Virgin Mary in the Calvary at Tallinn’s Cathedral greatly resembles the same figure in Kullamaa’s Calvary, both in terms of her overall attitude as well as in the statue’s details. Comparison of the two statues provides the opportunity to trace changes in the carver’s style, observing how his cutting line became sharper during the twelve years that separated the completion of the two figures.

What does the Calvary at Tallinn’s Cathedral say about the development of Ackermann’s style and the principles of his artistic oeuvre?

Based on the stylistic analysis of the Calvary at Tallinn’s Cathedral, it can be said that adherence to nature was one of Ackermann’s creative principles. Adam’s skull and shinbones which were added to the Calvary provide an especially convincing affirmation of this.

Adam’s skull and shinbones are so realistically carved and so true to nature that the question arises whether the master used printed models or genuine human bones as references for carving the skull and bones.

Comparison of the Calvary at Tallinn’s Cathedral (1694) with the Kullamaa Calvary (1682) and the comparison of its crucifix with the crucifix at Koeru Church (circa 1700) confirms the conclusion reached from the analysis of the master’s other works: Ackermann’s style became somewhat more austere over the years, the bodies of his figures lost the softness of their forms, and the cutting line of the folds in their garments became deeper and sharper.