安博休斯‧本森

Anonymous sale ("The Property of a Gentleman"): Sotheby's, London, May 6, 1925, lot 15
Vick (acquired at the above sale)
Thos. Agnew and Sons Ltd., London
Edith Stanton Newberry, Detroit (acquired from the above)
Thence by descent to John S. Newberry, Detroit, until 1957
Grosse Pointe Memorial Church (donated by the above in 1957)
Sale: Sotheby's, New York, January 29, 2015, lot 4 (sold by the above)
Acquired at the above sale by A. Alfred Taubman

London, Thos. Agnew and Sons Ltd., 1926

Burlington Magazine, April, 1925, p. XVII
Georges Marlier, Ambrosius Benson, et la Peinture à Bruges au temps de Charles-Quint, Damme, 1957, no. 60, pp. 116, 297
Max J. Friedländer, Early Netherlandish Painting, The Antwerp Mannerists., vol. XI, Leiden, 1974, no. 260, illustrated plate 170.

The following condition report has been provided by Karen Thomas of Thomas Art Conservation LLC., 336 West 37th Street, Suite 830, New York, NY 10018, 212-564-4024, info@thomasartconservation.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This intimately sized painting is in near-perfect condition. Delicate glazes, vibrant colors, and fine details are all intact. Medium-rich paints, such as the browns used in shadows, are notable for their excellent state of preservation given their sensitivity to cleaning. Normal age-related changes include the final dark green glazes in the foliage taking on a brown cast and fading of the red lake portion of the paint used for Mary's mantle. A few minimal strokes of strengthening are visible in the Madonna's face and the Christ Child's body, and a triangular retouch is located at the left side of the Madonna's neck; all are visible under ultraviolet illumination. The evenly glossy natural resin varnish adequately saturates the pigments. The varnish is only very slightly discolored; this minor yellowing does not adversely affect the painting to this conservator's eye. The thin, vertically-grained wood panel is planar and stable. In the frame, scattered minor losses to the gilding reveal the white gesso. An impact damage to the frame molding is located just below Christ Child, with a dent approximately 1cm wide and attendant flake losses.
"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."

Prior to its recent re-emergence, this gem-like Virgin and Child had been out of greater public view for nearly a century. It continues to shed light onto the technique of Ambrosius Benson, one of the leading figures of the Northern Renaissance in Bruges. To a greater degree, the painting highlights the incredible collaborative nature within the small, but highly active artistic environment in that city in the first half of the 16th century.

A similarly composed and small-scale Virgin Lactans was formerly with Albrecht Neuhaus, Würzburg, and later sold Christie's, London, 6 December 2011, lot 1 (as Attributed to Benson). The subtle tilt of the Virgin’s softly drawn oval head in that work certainly echoes the same figure here, though the ultimate source for this work is likely Gerard David’s Rest on the Flight into Egypt (National Gallery, Washington, D.C., inv. 1937.1.43), which is known in various versions of varying quality and condition. Peter van den Brink dates this picture to circa 1531, based on its close stylistic similarities with Benson’s own version of the Rest on the Flight (Groeninge Museum, Bruges).

Two works signed with the monogram ‘AB’ form the basis for all modern attributions to Benson (Altarpiece of St. Anthony of Padua in the Musées Royaux des Beaux ­Arts, Brussels; Holy Family formerly in the Groeningemuseum, Bruges), though analysis of preparatory under-drawings have aided scholars immensely in understanding Benson's approach to painting, as well as those of his immediate contemporaries. The preparatory cartoons of pictures were highly prized, largely for commercial reasons, as they allowed artists to repeat successful compositions in varying formats and sizes. The basic form of this Virgin, for example, can be found in numerous Benson-type pictures, such as in his Crowned Virgin and Child (location unknown, see Friedländer, op. cit., fig. 260a). IRR examination of this panel (fig. 1) shows a dual approach to the composition: a more freely handled landscape is employed, while the figures appear more carefully articulated. No visible pouncing or clear tracing is readily visible, but Till-Holger Borchert has suggested that the artist may have used a non-carbon based medium, which would not appear under IRR, for the figures in this particular composition.

Benson's style evolved in Bruges amidst a highly developed and collaborative artistic environment. He is recorded there as early as 1518, when he entered David’s studio, which served as the training ground and source of inspiration for a plethora of painters who formed part of a great generation of Bruges artists. Contemporaneously with his main competitor, Adriaen Isenbrandt, Benson rose to European prominence alongside a number of successful painters, including the miniaturist and illuminator Simon Bening, as well as Jan Provost, Albrecht Cornelis and Lancelot Blondeel, among others. In addition to the group of known artists, numerous others are known to have been active; between 1500 and 1523 (the year of David’s death), no less than sixty-three masters registered as free painters in the Bruges guild (J. Wilson, Painting in Bruges at the Close of the Middle Ages, University Park, 1998, p 133).

Till-Holger Borchert, Peter van den Brink and Maximiliaan P.J. Martens all endorse a full attribution of this panel to Benson, after first hand inspection. Maryan Ainsworth, also after seeing the painting in the original, tentatively linked the painting to a group of works considered close to Benson. We thank them for their assistance in the cataloguing of this lot.