NORTH NETHERLANDISH SCHOOL, 16TH CENTURY | ECCE HOMO

Anonymous sale, London, Bonhams, 8 July 1998, lot 114 (as follower of Dieric Bouts);

Anonymous sale, Amsterdam, Sotheby's, 7 May 2008, lot 3;

There acquired.

In this devotional painting, the exquisite rendering of different textures, the subtle modelling of the flesh tones and the serenity of Christ's facial expression are strongly reminiscent of artists such as Dieric Bouts (circa 1420-1475), Quinten Massijs (circa 1460-1530), Jan Mostaert (circa 1475-1553), and Hans Memling (circa 1433-1494), see for example the latter's Christ with the Stigmata in the Galleria di Palazzo Bianco, Genoa. However, the fairly uncommon way the narrow-shouldered figure of Christ is placed leaning with his folded hands on a stone balustrade, and, apart from the crown of thorns, the lack of any other common references to the theme, such as the tied hands, the stigmata or signs of the scourging of his body, make an attribution to one of the above difficult. Also, the figure of Christ seeks no compassion from the spectator, but looks to his left, which suggests that the picture might have been part of a triptych or diptych, or might have had a pendant, possibly representing the Virgin.