School of Brussels, circa 1490

Probably Hohenzollern Collection, Sigmaringen, no. 31;
Abel Collection, Cologne, 1863, no. 13 (as a triptych);
With A. S. Drey, New York, 1928 (as a triptych);
With M. Knoedler & Co., New York, 1938 (as a triptych);
Archibald and Margaret Z. van Beuren, Rhode Island (as a triptych);
Her sale, New York, Christie's, 11 January 1989, lot 183, as a triptych by the Master of the Magdalene Legend with lot 34 and a central panel, sold for $220,000.

New York, A.S. Drey, 1928;
Munich, Alte Pinakothek, September - October 1928;
Toledo, Ohio, Museum of Art, French and Flemish Primitives, 3 November - 15 December 1935, no. 25.

Possibly F. Winker, Die Altniederlandische Malerei, Berlin 1921, p. 371, as in the Hague and by the Master of the Miracle of the Loaves;
J. Tombu, "Le Maitre de la Légende de Marie-Madeleine", in Gazette des Beaux Arts, Novermber 1929, pp. 259, 263-4, reproduced;
Pantheon, vol. VII, 1931, p. 218
M.J. Friedlander, Early Netherlandish Painting, vol. XII, Leyden 1975, p. 90, no. 5.

"The following condition report has been provided by Sarah Walden, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. St. William of Aquitaine. As with the pendant there are one or two retouchings along the edges in the gold columns at the sides, and at the centre of the top edge. The figure is rather thinner in this wing of the triptych, with the black robe reinforced around the cowl and along the edges. There are also a few retouchings in the lower drapery of the donor. The heads have been strengthened, and the halo is quite thin, with a little line of retouching in the sky above the flag. The glazing of the fields in the landscape is lost in parts. St. Jerome in grisaille on verso. This outer side of the panel is in as perfect condition as St Agnes in the pendant, with a very few similar superficial lines touching out the grain perhaps unnecessarily. The rare state of these outer wings suggests that the triptych was seldom closed. The framing is as with the pendant overlaid with quite widespread old retouching. This report was not done under laboratory conditions."
"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."

The present panel and the following lot previously formed the two wings of a triptych attributed to the Master of the Magdalene Legend.  The three panels were recorded together in the Abel Collection, Cologne, in 1863.  The central panel, representing the Madonna and Child, was sold London, Christie's, 7 July 2000, for £300,000 as by the Master of the Magdalene Legend.  When the triptych was on the market in New York in 1920-30s it was seen by M.J. Friedlander who identified the central panel as by the hand of the Master of the Magdelene Legend and the two wings as being closer in style to the Master of Saint Catherine.  At this time the male saint was identified as Saint Arnold of Liziwang, although he has since been identified as Saint William of Aquitaine on account of the Benedictine habit over his armour and the fleur de lys on his flag.  William of Aquitiane was a warrior duke who was converted to Christianity by Saint Benedict of Aniane and after fighting the Saracens retired to a Benedictine monastry.