Louis de Caullery

With Galerie De Jonckheere, Paris, circa 1988, from whom purchased by the present collector.

M. Díaz Padrón, "Una Crucifixión de Louis de Caulery en el Museo del Prado", in Boletín del Prado, vol. XIV, 1993, p. 43-4, reproduced fig. 2.

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. There is pronounced curvature to the panel which has created some problems within the panel and the paint surface e.g. a horizontal band of approximately 5cm in width of unstable and raised paint, which has been previously restored, and a similar area bottom left. Small unstable splits to the edges are visible. Paint surface otherwise stable with only minor paint losses."
"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."

This is arguably De Caullery's most impressive version of this much-favoured subject. He painted numerous versions of the Crucifixion, both in horizontal and upright format, but in terms of both size and scale of composition this is his most ambitious attempt at it. Of all the other versions this work may be most closely compared with the unsigned panel in Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery,¹ which is on a similar scale. That painting contains fewer figures and its composition is seen from a slightly lower viewpoint.

1. See M. Díaz Padrón, under Literature, p. 46, fig. 6.