This colorful and detailed Crucifixion scene is the work of an unidentified artist who nonetheless showcases his individual style in the faces of the figures, the costumes, and treatment of the landscape in this panel, which likely came from a triptych or larger altarpiece. The hybrid style, which combines elements of early sixteenth-century Antwerp painting as well as Lower Rhine motifs, suggests that the artist traveled between the Low Countries and Germany.

The bent and twisted bodies of the Good and Bad Thieves hang on crosses on either side of Christ, while below the praying Virgin faints into the arms St. John the Evangelist, Mary Magdalene embraces the foot of the cross, and the other two Marys mourn to the right. This arrangement is generally based on trends in Antwerp painting circa 1515-1520, such as the work of the Master of 1518 (fig. 1), and some of the faces of the figures suggest influence from the Master of Frankfurt (1460 - c. 1533). The present artist guides the viewer’s eye throughout the scene with the open-mouthed faces of each mourner facing different directions, and with a detailed cityscape in the background moving from green and brown to blue and white. While the costumes and faces of the thieves and of the foreground Mary suggest German origins, the color palette belongs to the Low Countries. The anonymous traveling artist’s style, however, seems individualized enough that it may be possible in the future to identify the hand by comparison with another work.

We are grateful to Till-Holger Borchert, Peter van den Brink, Bodo Brinkmann, and Stephan Kemperdick for their assistance in cataloging this lot.