Studio of Albrecht Bouts

Private collection, Switzerland, since at least 1966;
By descent to the present owner.

The infrared image (see fig. 1) shows that the painter originally intended to depict Christ with hands clasped, after the lost prototype by Dirk Bouts known now from copies by Albrecht's workshop.¹ But the hands were never painted in. The panel's shaped top is unusual amongst those many copies and was probably changed at a later stage to fit in a frame.² We are grateful to Dr. Valentine Henderiks who has inspected this picture first-hand and confirmed the attribution.
1. See V. Henderiks, Albrecht Bouts (1451/55–1549) (Contributions à l'étude des Primitifs flamands, 10), Bruxelles, 2009, pp. 386–89, cat. nos 121–37, under 'Versions after the Christ crowned with thorns after the prototype in Dijon'.
2. Right wing of a diptych, oil on oak panel, 36.8 x 27.8 cm. See L. Campbell, National Gallery Catalogue: The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Schools, London 1998, pp. 63–66, reproduced p. 65.