Master Paintings and Sculpture Part II
Master Paintings and Sculpture Part II
Property from an Important Private Collection
Workshop of Jacob Cornelisz
The Adoration of the Magi with portraits of two kneeling donors, Claes Hendricksz. Basgen (1488-1563) and his daughter Neel Claesdr. Basgen (1528-1594)
Auction Closed
January 27, 09:38 PM GMT
Estimate
30,000 - 50,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Property from an Important Private Collection
Workshop of Jacob Cornelisz
Oostzaan circa 1460/65 - 1533 Amsterdam
The Adoration of the Magi with portraits of two kneeling donors, Claes Hendricksz. Basgen (1488-1563) and his daughter Neel Claesdr. Basgen (1528-1594)
oil on panel
panel: 31¾ by 26½ in.; 80.6 by 67.3 cm.
framed: 43½ by 36⅝ in.; 110.5 by 93 cm.
Thence by bequest to her half-brother, Jacob Claeszn. Bas (1536-1589);
Louis P. Durr, New York;
By whom gifted to the New York Historical Society, 1882, inv. no. 1882.39
(as Dutch School, 15th Century, and with incorrect identification of the donor figures);
Their sale, New York, Sotheby's, 12 January 1995, lot 12;
Where acquired.
S.A.C. Dudok van Heel, "Een bordt van de drie coningen daer haer vaders figuer in staet. Een vroeg portret van de familie Bas," in Maandblad Amstelodamum 82 (1995), no. 4, p. 97-105, reproduced;
I. Falque, Devotional Portraiture and Spiritual Experience in Early Netherlandish Painting, Leiden and Boston 2019, cat. no. 311, reproduced (as Circle of Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostanen).
This panel arose from the workshop of Jacob Cornelisz and was likely painted after a now-lost original by the Northern Netherlandish artist from Oostzaan. A dynamic and colorful Adoration scene fills the composition, but two donor figures kneel in the lower corners. The kneeling figure on the left is Claes Hendricksz. Basgen (1488-1563), a wealthy merchant who held prominent political positions in Amsterdam. On the right is his daughter Neel Claesdr. Basgen (1528-1594), who is attired in the robes of an Augustinian canoness. While the specifics for the commission of this panel remain uncertain, Dudok van Heel has proposed that this painting may have been commissioned in celebration of her entrance into the women’s convent of Oude Nonnenklooster in Amsterdam.1 What is more certain is that Neel's will of 21 July 1582 firmly identifies the present panel, which she bequests to Jacob Claeszn. Bas (1536-1589), her half-brother.2 We are grateful to Peter van den Brink for suggesting the present attribution on the basis of firsthand inspection.
1. Dudok van Heel 1995.
2. As discussed by Falque in 2019, Neel's will lists a painting of the Adoration of the Magi with the portrait of her father ("een bordt van de drie coningen daer haer vaders figuer in staet").