The Master of the Legend of Saint Barbara

K.W. Forrer collection, Basel;
Anonymous sale, Lucerne, Fischer, 13-17 June 1950, lot 2400, as 'Kreis des Hugo van der Goes';
Larragoiti collection, Madrid;
Anonymous sale, Lucerne, Fischer, 7 November 1985, lot 1604, as 'Niederländische Schule Des 15. Jh';
Private collection, South Germany;
Anonymous sale, Cologne, Lempertz, 22 May 2004, lot 1052, as 'Genter Meister', where acquired by the present collector.

E.B. Martinez, La Pintura de los Primitivos Flamencos en España, Madrid 1980, p. 177, reproduced figs. 166-168 (as by the Master of Saint Barbara Legend);
L. Campbell, review of the above, in The Burlington Magazine, vol. CXXIII, September 1981, pp. 554-55 (as by the Master of the Saint Barbara Legend).

"The following condition report has been provided by Nancy Krieg, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. Central Panel: The Annunciation This panel is comprised of three vertical planks. The joins have been repaired on the reverse with strips of wood veneer and wood blocks. There is some active blistering and new areas of small paint loss on the painted surface. The central panel is marked by a discolored varnish. A number of restorations can be found on the surface. These restorations address old areas of paint loss, the largest cluster of which can be found in the upper left portion of the painting in the area of the spandrel and vault. Old repairs can also be found around the joins. Other smaller areas of old paint loss and subsequent restorations are scattered about the surface. The landscape, and the central figures are in good condition. The figures of the angel and virgin are relatively free of restoration and the fleshtones and drapery appear to be well preserved. Inner Wings: The Temptation of Eve in the Garden An Angel appearing to a Donor Figure These panels are comprised of two vertical planks. The join on the Temptation of Eve in the Garden is open and requires repair. Both side wings are marked by a discolored varnish. There is no active flaking or blistering on these panels and the surface appears stable. Old repairs can be found in the tree in the Temptation of Eve panel and along the joins of both panels. The paint surfaces are in otherwise good condition overall. Outer Wings: Saint James the Greater Saint Thomas Aquinas The surfaces of these panels exhibit a greater proportion of wear having been the sides most exposed to the environment. The varnish on these surfaces is discolored and darkened. There are a number of areas of active paint blistering and flaking with many old repairs to the surface."
"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 Master was named by M.J. Friedländer after a panel, since divided in two, illustrating the Legend of Saint Barbara.¹  He was evidently a follower of Rogier van der Weyden, though also influenced by Dirk Bouts, and almost certainly worked in Brussels, since he collaborated on at least two occasions with other masters working there, namely The Master of the View of Saint Gudule and The Master of the Legend of Saint Catherine.  This Master has tentatively been identified as Aert van den Bossche.

Martinez was the first to identify this triptych as by The Master of the Barbara Legend, an attribution endorsed by Lorne Campbell in his review of Martinez.²  Characteristic of the Saint Barbara Master is the variety of sources on which he drew here.  The curious 'gynomorphic' serpent for example occurs first in the left wing of Hugo van der Goes' early diptych in Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, but the Saint Barbara Master has here reversed her.³  The iconography of this panel is unusual, since Eve, accepting the apple, is already clad (whie Adam, seen in the distance, remains naked).  The pose of the Virgin Annunciate is derived from the figure in the left shutter of Rogier van der Weyden's St. Columba Altarpiece in Munich, Alte Pinakothek.⁴  The architectural setting within the nave of a church is also Rogierian, and the Romanesque architecture is reminiscent of the setting of the right shutter of the St. Columba Altarpiece.⁵  The pose of the Annunciating Angel with upstretched arm are reminiscent of the drawing of this subject done within Jan van Eyck's circle, in Wölffenbüttel.⁵  This suggests that there was a source in a painting. 

What makes this triptych so remarkable is the extraordinary attention to detail within it.  The Romanesque architecture is intricately constructed; see, for example, the low-relief carvings of the hunting figures in the spandrels of the arch that frame the narrative.  The still-life details in the foreground are beautifully worked, including the rich fabrics of rug and cushion on which the Virgin kneels, and the Angel's cloak, and the distant landscape seen through the windows to the left expands the composition and gives it greater depth. In these respects it is unusual for the Saint Barbara Master, although the panels of his eponymous altarpiece also show a great interest in detail, especially of architecture, but the facial types of the Angel and the Virgin in the present triptych are entirely characteristic of him. 

A dendrochronological analysis conducted by Professor Peter Klein of the three planks forming the central panel and one of each of the two planks forming the wings gives a plausible date of creation from 1490 onwards.

1.  See M.J. Friedländer, Early Netherlandish Painting, vol.  IV, Leyden/ Brussels 1969, pp. 98-99.
2.  See under Literature.
3.  See Friedländer, op. cit., p. 68, reproduced plate 4.
4.  See Friedländer, op. cit., vol. II,  1967, pp. 69-70, reproduced plate 49.
5.  Idem.
6.  Wolfenbüttel, Herzog-August-Bibliothek; see Friedländer, op. cit., vol. I, 1967, p. 74, reproduced plate 70.