Upper Rhenish School, late 15th century

Fernand Stuyck (1887–1960), Antwerp;

His posthumous sale, Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts, 7 December 1960, lot 10 (as German School, 15th century);

With P. de Boer, Amsterdam, 1961;

Hans Becker, Dortmund, by 1967, and probably until circa 1975;

With G. Cramer Oude Kunst, The Hague, 1975–76;

Dr Hinrich Bischoff, Berlin;

Thence by descent.

The Hague, G. Cramer Oude Kunst, Paintings by Old Masters XX, 1975–76, no. 16 (as Master of the Gewandstudien [formerly known as the Master of the Coburg Roundels], Upper-Rhenish, circa 1480);

Kassel, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche Museen, on loan (inv. L. 1099).

R. Fritz, Sammlung Becker, vol. I, Gemälde Alter Meister, Dortmund 1967, n.p., no. 8, reproduced (as Master of the Gewandstudien [formerly known as the Master of the Coburg Roundels], Upper-Rhenish, circa 1480);

A. Stange, Die deutschen Tafelbilder vor Dürer, Munich 1970, vol. 2, p. 49, no. 163 (listed under works from the Workshop of and by followers of the Master of the Coburg Roundels, and as depicting Christ before Pilate);

Paintings by Old Masters XX, Gallery G. Cramer Oude Kunst, The Hague 1975–76, pp. 32–33, no. 16 (as Master of the Gewandstudien [formerly known as the Master of the Coburg Roundels], Upper-Rhenish, circa 1480);

A. Büttner, in E. Mai (ed.), Das Kabinett des Sammlers, pp. 60–62, no. 24, reproduced (as North-Netherlandish or Upper Rhenish, circa 1480).

While consistently regarded as a work painted around 1480, this painting's region of origin has oscillated between the geographically remote Upper Rhenish and Northern Netherlandish Schools. While its iconography is reminiscent of Hieronymus Bosch, for example his Ecce Homo at the Städel, Frankurt, the softwood panel support points towards the Upper Rhine, where the artist known as the Master of the Drapery Studies (formerly the Master of the Coburg Roundels) is thought to have been active, perhaps in Strasbourg.¹ Andreas Büttner noted similarities between this picture and the glass paintings of Peter Hemmel von Andlau (circa 1420–1506), whose workshop was in Strasbourg.² This, together with a manifest adherence to the pictorial tradition of the Master of the Housebook, points to an artist active in the Upper Rhine, possibly Strasbourg, immediately preceding Martin Schöngauer. The reddish stone of the steps also points to the region of the Upper Rhine, where the distinctive ubiquitous sandstone is of a strongly reddish hue, particularly on the east bank of the river. 

¹ The Master of the Coburg Roundels was named after two panels of circular format formerly in Veste Coburg.

² See Literature.