Antwerp School, circa 1520/30

The actual painting is deeper in tone than the catalogue illustration suggests. The central panel consists of 2 vertical planks. The left and right wings are single panels. The left panel has a vertical central split which is slightly unstable and requires attention. There are some tiny paint losses to the upper left in the central panel, otherwise, the paint layer appears to be in good condition with a lot of detail still intact. The paint surface is under very dirty and discoloured varnish layer and there's surface dirt. Only some minor scattered retouchings can be observed with the naked eye, e.g. along the central join and to the upper right in the central panel, but further inspection under UV light is inconclusive due to the dirty varnish layer. The frame has some scattered losses and a crack in the central part upper left and upper right.
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This triptych is a fine example of the Antwerp School of the 1520s/1530s. The so-called Antwerp Mannerists, active in these decades, produced many devotional works, both for public or private use. Although the present triptych cannot be grouped with a specific Antwerp mannerist workshop it clearly shows very similar stylistic characteristics. The central Virgin, the Magi in their extravagant costumes, and the architectural elements, are also found in panels by Jan van Dornicke (formerly known as the Master of 1518), and by altarpieces of the Master of the Antwerp Adoration. See for example the Altarpiece of the Adoration, formerly with Charles Sedelmeyer, Paris¹, which is attributed to Jan van Dornicke, or the two triptychs, associated with the Master of the Antwerp Adoration, one in Stonyhurst College and the other in Musee Rolin, Autun.²

We are grateful to Peter van den Brink, Director of the Aachen City Museums, for his help in cataloguing this lot.

1. See M.J. Friedländer, Early Netherlandish Paintings, vol. XI, Leiden/Brussels 1974, p. 76, cat. no. 90, reproduced plate 83.
2. Ch. Grössinger, North-European panel paintings, London 1992, pp. 212-15.