Circle of Joos van Cleve

Private Collection, The Netherlands
Thence by descent to the present owner.

Caspar is almost certainly a portrait in the traditional pose of a kneeling donor.  In this respect, and in the broad outline of the composition, the central panel follows in reverse that of Van Cleve's triptych of this subject of circa 1516 in the National Gallery, Prague (see M.J. Friedländer, Early Netherlandish Painting, vol. IXa, Leiden 1972, p. 52. no. 7, reproduced plate 14). The same compositional arrangement recurs in several other of Van Cleve's altarpieces, in reverse and in the same sense, for example that in San Donato, Genoa, where the donor figure as Caspar has a remarkably similar physiognomy (ibidem, p. 53, no. 9, reproduced plate 19). The present picture would appear to be the work of a distinct hand within Van Cleve's following, characterized by a cool colour scheme and very smooth Bensonesque handling.