Spanish, early 17th century | Pair of Busts of Apostles

Please note that this lot will be sent to our Greenford Park warehouse following the sale.

Private collection, Madrid, 1926;
Paul Cassirer, Berlin, 1928;
Heinrich von Thyssen-Rohancz (1875-1947), circa 1930;
by descent to Hans Heinrich, Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza (1921-2002);
Thyssen-Bornemisza collection, Villa Favorita, Lugano, inv. no. K38;
Sotheby's New York, July 6, 1995, lot 106 (St. James);
Sotheby's London, December 12, 2003, lot 219;
the present owner

A. L. Mayer, El Greco, Munich, 1926, p. 57;
O. Wertheimer, 'Eine norddeutsche Plastik aus dem Anfang des 17. Jahrhunderts' in Pantheon, 5, 1930, p. 218;
K. Stork, 'Jürgen Kriebel, Hofbildhauer zu Glückstadt' in Nordelbingen, 21, 1953, p. 111;
Experience and Adventures of a Collector, ACR Edition Internationale, Courbevoie, 1989, pp. 334-339;
A. Radcliffe, M. Baker and M. Maek-Gérard, The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection: Renaissance and later sculpture, London, 1992, pp. 432-434, no. 85

These intriguing busts of Apostles were attributed to El Greco by A. L. Mayer, who first saw them, together with two further busts (now destroyed) in a Madrid private collection. Mayer published the group of busts as having been cut down from larger figures formerly in the church of Caridad, Illescas, which had been badly damaged in the Spanish Civil War. The busts were subsequently published as Northern German by Wertheimer (op. cit.), who attributed them to Ludwig Münstermann; Stork (op. cit.) ascribed them to Georg Kriebel. Saliger and Kuba-Hauk published the preceding pair of busts as Spanish, and didn't dismiss the attribution to El Greco. Malcolm Baker published the Thyssen and the preceding busts as probably Spanish, circa 1600-1620. He cited the use of chestnut and the Madrid provenance as important factors in determining the busts as Spanish. Baker pointed out that the busts are dissimilar to the few sculptures convincingly given to El Greco, including the Risen Christ in the Hospital de Tavera, Toledo, and the St Ildefonso relief in Toledo cathedral. The busts, which, as Mayer noted, are cut down from larger figures, recall late 16th-century Spanish Mannerist sculpture. With their unusual, emaciated faces, and cartaceous drapery, there is a certain resemblance to paintings by El Greco, but it is more likely that they herald from an as yet unidentified workshop within his orbit.