Old Masters
Old Masters
Auction Closed
May 8, 12:10 PM GMT
Estimate
15,000 - 20,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Property from a European Private Collection
MASTER OF THE LITTLE COLOGNE PASSION
active in Cologne in the early 15th Century
The Crucifixion, with the Virgin, Saint John the Evangelist, Saint Augustine, a bishop, and two nuns
oil on linen, reduced
54 x 41.5 cm.; 21¼ x 16⅜ in.
Wallraf-Richartz Museum & Fondation Corboud, Cologne, 1888–1943;
Whence acquired by the father of the present owner.
Verzeichnis der Gemälde des Wallraf-Richartz-Museums Stadt Köln, Cologne 1914, p. 26, inv. no. 53 (as The Master of Saint Veronica);
A. Stange, Deutsche Malerei der Gotik, vol. III, Berlin 1938, p. 79 (as Master of the Little Cologne Passion);
K. von Baum, Malerei auf textilem Bildträger im 15. Jahrhundert in Köln. Gemäldebestand - Herstellungstechniken - Erscheinungsformen, doctoral diss., Bamberg 2008, pp. 105–06, cat. no. 15, reproduced p. 29, fig. 63 (as Cologne School circa 1400–15, unknown location).
The eponymous work, the outer wings of a triptych depicting a Passion cycle, is today in the Wallraf-Richartz Museum (inv. no. WRM 0038),(1) and includes a scene depicting the Crucifixion very similar to the present painting. This painting probably also originally formed part of a series depicting scenes from the Passion – however each scene would have been painted as framed pictures on a single specially prepared canvas, also known as Tüchlein, rather than in the context of an altarpiece – this was a genre that found particular popularity in Cologne, and of which few examples survive. Such series are ultimately of Byzantine origin in conception and may have served in Cologne as teaching tools or for private contemplation.
We are grateful to Dr Roland Krischel for his assistance in the cataloguing of this lot.
1 B. Corley, Painting and Patronage in Colonge. 1300-1500, London 2000, p. 113, reproduced fig. 86.