Kirchenväteraltar, Flügelaußenseite: Disputation des hl. Augustinus mit den Häretikern

The panel painting depicting the Disputation of Saint Augustine with the Heretics is held in the collection of the Bavarian State Painting Collections. It is permanently housed at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. The work, created around 1480 by Michael Pacher, measures 103 cm in height and 91 cm in width.

The provided sources do not contain specific inventory numbers or details regarding the exhibition history of this artwork.

The reverse of the Pacher altarpiece presents Augustine in a theological debate with heretics, reflecting his role as a Doctor of the Church and emphasizing doctrinal authority during the pre-Reformation period. This scene aligns with contemporary devotional practices that valued scriptural engagement and polemical clarity against heresy, as seen in the iconography of Augustine's raised hand and the presence of dissenting figures. Scholarship situates this work within Michael Pacher's broader output of carved altarpieces for Tyrolean ecclesiastical patrons, demonstrating his synthesis of German Gothic naturalism with emerging Renaissance spatial concerns.

The altarpiece's placement in the Alte Pinakothek underscores its recognized significance as a representative example of 15th-century Southern German religious art, where such narrative panels functioned both as devotional aids and didactic tools for clergy and laity alike.

The exterior wing of the Kirchenväteraltar, painted by Michael Pacher around 1490, portrays Saint Augustine engaged in a theological dispute with a group of heretics. The scene unfolds on a wooden panel, featuring a central figure in a green robe gesturing toward a red‑robed bishop, set against an architectural backdrop of arches and tiled flooring.