Studio of Ambrosius Benson Lombardy (?) late 15th century - before 1550 Bruges

Estimate

60,000 - 80,000 EUR

bidding is closed

Description

Ambrosius Benson
the adoration of the magi
oil on panel
90.5 by 79 cm.

Provenance

A. K. Gardiner, New York;
Dr. J. E. Stillwell, Anderson Galleries, New York, 1927;
His sale, New York, American Art Association, 1-3 December 1927, lot 199;
With F. Kleinberger Galleries, Paris/New York, 1928-9;
His sale, New York, American Art Association, 18 November 1932, lot 42, for $1,500.

Exhibited

New York, Flemish Primitives, November 1929, no. 61;
Antwerp, Exposition d’Art Flamand, July 1930, no. 10 (lent by Kleinberger Galleries).

Literature

The Burlington Magazine, vol. LII, March 1928, p. 300 (advertisement);
Studio, vol. XCVI, July 1930, p. 66;
The Burlington Magazine, April 1933, p. 2;
Marlier 1957, pp. 206-7, 289, no. 26, reproduced plate LI.

Catalogue Note

It would appear that it was M.J. Friedländer who first identified this Adoration as the work of Ambrosius Benson, in a certificate written in Berlin on 27 December 1927. Georges Marlier, who was the first scholar to attempt a detailed study of Benson’s oeuvre, did not have the opportunity to examine this work at first hand. While he included it in his list of works by Benson and his Atelier, he discussed it in connection with a group of pictures, including foremostly (and by pure coincidence), a Pietà also formerly with Kleinberger Galleries. This group of works demonstrates a looser, less formal application of Benson’s style than his few secure works. Among them are echoes of the works of other artists and their schools, including, in the present work as in others, Gerard David (circa 1460-1523) and Hugo van der Goes (circa 1435-1482). Marlier describes these works as Tableaux de style détendu – paintings of a relaxed style – and are probably pictures produced in Benson’s workshop (or workshops), but may not necessarily be direct products of his own brush.