Workshop of Jan Pollack

The actual painting is less red in tone and the gold ground is much stronger in the original than the catalogue illustration suggests. The panel seems to consist of one plank, and has been reinforced with thick strips of wood to the reverse, because of several vertical splits: one running from top to bottom through the left half of the painting, one in the lower right and one in the lower left corner, and two paralell ones approx. 15 cm. from the right edge. Some minor paint losses have occured along the splits. The paint layer is in fair condition, with some significant abrasion in the red coats of the figures on the left and in the centre,as if the red pigment has dissolved over time. The decorative pattern of the gold ground is carved in the panel and nicely preserved. Some small retouched scattered losses can be made out with the naked eye, e.g. in the cross and in the red draperies. The paint surface is under a dry and somewhat dirty varnish. Inspection under UV light reveals a few tiny additional retouches, but the figures, overall, are in fair condition. This lot is offered unframed.
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We are grateful to Ludwig Meyer for suggesting that this painting comes from the Workshop of Jan Pollack, and for proposing a date of circa 1490. The Munich painter Pollack stood at the head of a large workshop, which undertook numerous commissions for churches and monasteries in the region of Bavaria. This painting probably belonged to a larger altarpiece with scenes of the Passion of Christ.

The figure types and facial expressions may be stylistically compared to parts of the former high altar piece by Pollack and his workshop in the St. Peter's Church, Munich, parts of which are now in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich (f.e. inv. nos. L MA 3370, 3383, 3701 and 3352).¹

1. See S. Hahn and C. Loos (eds.), Jan Pollack. Von der Zeichnung zum Bild. Malerei und Maltechnik in München, exhibition catalogue, Augsburg 2004, pp. 30-1, and 145, fig. 7 (a.o.).