Netherlandish School, circa 1510

The Dukes of Rutland;

With J. D. Farr, London;

Acquired from the above by Baron Coppée in London, May 1926.

Tokyo, Tobu Museum of Art, The World of Bruegel. The Coppée Collection and Eleven International Museums, 29 March – 25 June 1995, no. F2 (as Flemish School).

S. Leclercq, et al., La Collection Coppée, Liège 1991, p. 6, reproduced p. 7;

M. Wilmotte, in the catalogue of the exhibition The World of Bruegel. The Coppée Collection and Eleven International Museums, Tokyo 1995, p. 158, no. F2, reproduced.

The following condition report is provided by Hamish Dewar who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: Structural Condition The panel has a line of three butterfly inserts supporting a horizontal join on the reverse and there are traces of a painting on the reverse of the panel. Structurally the panel would appear to be in sound and stable condition and the vertical join or repaired crack has been successfully secured. There is evidence of other repaired cracks in the panel including a vertical line approximately 6 cm from the left vertical framing edge. There are also small losses along the horizontal framing edge. Paint Surface The paint surface has a very discoloured varnish layer as well as a considerable amount of ingrained dirt and should respond very well to cleaning and revarnishing. A line of retouching is visible along the vertical repaired join in the panel. Inspection under ultra-violet light shows this retouching and other very faint suggestions of inpainting, including retouchings on the lower right vertical edge and also in the upper right of the same vertical framing edge. There is also a horizontal intermittent line of retouching in the cross in the upper left of the composition which runs parallel to the upper horizontal framing edge. The old varnish layers are very opaque under ultra-violet light and there may well be other retouchings which are not identifiable under ultra-violet light. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in essentially good and stable condition and should respond very well to cleaning, restoration and revarnishing.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This panel would probably have originally formed the right-hand side of a triptych, flanking a Crucifixion or a Resurrection of Christ. This is supported by the fragmentary remains of the figure of a bishop saint on the reverse (or outer side) of the panel. When Baron Coppée acquired it in 1926, it was thought to be the work of the Haarlem painter Geergten tot Sint Jans (circa 1455/65 – 1485/95), one of the most important North Netherlandish painters of the second half of the fifteenth century. Though it shares his strong colouring, it quite lacks his mastery of detail or reflective mood. Its author, however, may well have been aware of contemporary developments in painting in Haarlem. The highly original diagonal of the tomb into which Christ’s body in being laid, and the figure of the kneeling Magdalene in the left foreground immediately in front of it can, for example, be paralleled in a panel of the Entombment of Christ by the Master of the Brunswick Diptych, also painted in Haarlem in 1490–1500 and now in Brussels, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts.¹ This and its companion panel, a Betrayal of Christ, were likewise wings of a triptych, and share with this panel a similar interest in tiered multiple narrative scenes, with a very similar Descent from the Cross and a Noli Me Tangere replacing the present Harrowing of Hell. The Coppée panel is, however, likely to be of later date. Wilmotte considered it a provincial Flemish work. The bright local colours and graphic qualities might also suggest that its author was aware of contemporary painting in nearby Germany.

 

 

1. Exhibited, Rotterdam, Museum Boymans van Beuningen, Vrooge Hollanders, 2008, no. 16.