Anton Woensam von Worms Probably Worms 1493/6-1500 - in or before 1541 Cologne

With Galerie Heinemann, Munich, probably in the 1920s, inv. no. 18113 (according to a label affixed to the reverse).

"The following condition report has been provided by Hamish Dewar, an independent restorer, address: 14 Mason's Yard, Duke Street, St James's, London SW1Y 6BU, tel: +44 (0)20 7930 4004, fax: +44 (0)20 7930 4100, email: hamish@hamishdewar.co.uk. UNCONDITIONAL AND WITHOUT PREJUDICE Structural Condition The panel has been cradled but there are, however, a number of small paint losses which correspond to the vertical grain of the panel and localised structural consolidation would be recommended. Paint Surface The small losses mentioned above would require filling and retouching and a number of other small retouchings where similar losses have occurred in the past are visible in natural as well as under ultraviolet light. There are a number of small scattered retouchings across the paint surface and there may be other retouchings beneath the very discoloured varnish layers. Cleaning would be very beneficial and should result in a considerable colour change. Summary The painting therefore appears to be in reasonably good condition with the potential to be transformed as a result of cleaning, but there are a number of paint losses which require attention as well as old retouchings from the past."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

The panels that comprise this and the following lot are apparently previously unrecorded.  Given their similar size but different backgrounds, they probably formed part of the inner and outer wings of a larger retable.  There appears to be no visual evidence of any other panels from such an altarpiece, but Dr. Roland Krischel (in email correspondance) has kindly suggested that two panels of very similar dimensions, described in Hans Kinsky's 1945 manuscript thesis on Anton Woensam, are likely to have come from it.¹  Kinsky listed them as nos. 28 & 29 in his catalogue raisonné, and he described them as the inside and outside wings, measuring 88.5 by 25.5 cm., and recorded that they depict St. Stephen in a landscape, and the Apostle St. Matthew in a grey stone niche.  Both panels belonged to Frau Geheimrat Kirsch, and were exhibited in Düsseldorf in 1921 and 1929, as Anton Woensam.²  The 1929 catalogue described them as the inner and outer wings of an unknown but important altarpiece by the artist painted in his maturity.  Given that one present and one missing panel depict two of the Apostles, one may assume that there were originally four outer and four inner wings to this putative dismembered altarpiece.

Woensam's figures, and especially their physiognomies and the handling of their drapery, are highly distinctive.  He was an approximate contemporary of Barthel Bruyn, whose style he parallels, and although he was probably born in Worms in the Upper Rhine valley, he belongs firmly to the School of Cologne, the city where he seems to have worked for most of his life.  His paintings are rare; Kinsky listed only 39.

1  H. Kinsly, Anton Woensam von Worms als Maler, diss. Cologne 1945.  This is the most recent comprehensive study of the artist and his work.
2  Kinsky lists them again, as late works of the artist, in his entry for the artist in Thieme-Becker: H. Kinsky, in F. Thieme & U. Becker (ed.), Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler..., vol 36, Leipzig 1947, p. 167.