Lot 3012* - A206 Tableaux de Maîtres Anciens - vendredi, 22. septembre 2023, 14h00
ANTWERP MANNERIST, CIRCA 1515–20
Prof. Peter Klein, 2.7.2016 (copy available).
Provenance:
- With Hermann Baer, Berlin, and from 1936 London, Davies Street.
- Circa 1976 sold to German art dealer.
- Since circa 1980 in private collection, South Germany.
This fully preserved winged altarpiece with the ‘Adoration of the Magi’ takes up a well-known model associated with the oeuvre of the Antwerp painter Jan de Beer (c. 1475–1528). Jan de Beer, formerly known as the Master of the Milanese Adoration because of his altarpiece in the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan (inv. no. 620), is considered one of the most important members of the so-called Antwerp Mannerists, a loose group of mostly anonymous painters active in and around Antwerp in the early 16th century. Highly regarded during his lifetime, Jan de Beer ran a busy workshop with a significant output of religious paintings.
The prototype of our altarpiece is a lost work by Jan de Beer, which is known from numerous copies and may be described as the most popular composition on the Antwerp market between 1510 and 1527 (see Dan Ewing: Jan de Beer. Gothic Renewal in Renaissance Antwerp, Turnhout 2016, p. 184f). Of the copies still preserved today, the version in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich forms the most reliable indication of what the original altarpiece looked like (inv. no. 1431a-c, see Ewing 2016, p. 185, fig. 152). Perhaps it is the varied composition that partly accounted for the remarkable popularity of this work, which lasted for two generations. It was not until the well-known ‘Last Supper’ by Pieter Coecke van Aelst (1502–1550) c. 1527–28 (Liège, Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain, inv. no. 296), that a second Antwerp painting was produced on a scale approaching that of the lost De Beer prototype. In contrast to our modern sensibilities, high-quality copies were not regarded as inferior to the original. On the contrary, collectors and churches eagerly sought copies of a coveted original that would not otherwise have been available to them. This was a common pattern of the time, prevalent even among the highest social classes.
The painter of our winged altarpiece may have been an artist from another Antwerp workshop who must have been familiar with de Beer's original prototype. Many details of our central panel are very close to that of de Beer. The left wing with the ‘Nativity’ largely corresponds to the possible original, while the landscape and some details of the ‘Flight into Egypt’ deviate from the prototype. These variations indicate the personal wishes of the respective patrons and are further evidence of the strong demand for this type of painting created by Jan de Beer, which constituted the best-selling composition in Antwerp in the first quarter of the 16th century. The dendrochronology of the oak panels gives a possible date of origin around 1513 to 1519.
Our thanks to Prof. Dan Ewing for his expert assistance in the cataloguing of this painting.
CHF 90 000 / 120 000 | (€ 92 780 / 123 710)
Vendu pour CHF 106 250 (frais inclus)
Aucune responsabilité n'est prise quant à l´exactitude de ces informations.