Lot 5
  • 5

Antwerp Mannerist School, early 16th century

Estimate
100,000 - 150,000 USD
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Description

  • Antwerp Mannerist School, early 16th century
  • A complete altarpiece with the Adoration of the Magi on the central panel and the donors with St. John and St. Margaret repectively on the wings
  • bears the coat of arms of the T'Serwouters, of Flanders and Amsterdam, on the left wing, upper right
  • oil on panel, shaped top
  • 28 x 50 inches

Provenance

Eugene Salberg, Amsterdam;
The Salberg Family, New York;
With Newhouse Galleries, New York (as The Master of 1518);
Where purchased by the present collector in 1964.

Condition

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has been restored. The three panels are comfortably framed, and the frames are healthy. The hinges are active. The reverse of the three sections have all been restored, and only a small amount of attention is required to remove some black tape which has been adhered to the left and right side of the central panel. The reverse of the central panel is cradled, and the two smaller wings are painted on the reverse. The three panels are perhaps not recently restored, but look very well. Cleaning or reevaluating the conservation is not recommended. There is no concentration of retouches. Retouches have only been applied in the sky in each of the three panels, but the condition is otherwise particularly good in the remainder of the work. The condition of this painting can be considered excellent.
"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."

Catalogue Note

This complete and well-preserved altarpiece is a characteristic example of Antwerp Mannerism, a late-flowering of northern Gothic art that flourished during the first three decades of the 16th century. It was a style based on exuberance and virtuosity and had broad appeal among the merchant and clerical classes.  Its very popularity gave birth to an increase in creation of suitable paintings and encouraged the growth of workshops, making the attribution of paintings to specific hands extremely difficult.  So although the present work was previously attributed to the Master of 1518, current scholarship supports the more general classifcation of Antwerp Mannerist School.

The Adoration of the Magi, the subject of the central panel of the present work, was one of the most popular and one that was often associated with the Master of the Van Groote Altarpiece.  However, the composition is not a replica of any of his known works, and Infrared Reflectography examination reveals extensive and free underdrawing.  The artist also made some revisions to the composition, changing the position of the Virgin's eyes and removing some figures in front of the wall in the left background of the center panel.  Indeed his influence can be seen in the general structure and figure types here.  The side panels show the two donors accompanied by their patron saints.  The depiction of the female donor, is reminiscent of the Capidomonte Crucifixion triptych by Joos van Cleve, but here again the similarity is not strong enough to make a firm attribution.  On the reverses of the wings, which would be visible when the altar was closed, are two saints in niches, painted in monochrome to simulate statues.  What is unusual is that they are in brown rather than the more usual gray, perhaps to suggest a carved wooden statue rather than a stone one.  The saint on the right is St. Elizabeth of Hungary, but that on the left is more difficult to identify.  He is most likely St. Paul, whose usual attributes are a beard, sword and book.  But since he was a soldier before his conversion, his wearing armor rather than the usual robes, is not out of place.

 While we cannot be certain of the authorship of the panels we can be more confident about who commissioned it.  The escutcheon hanging from the tree in the left-hand panel is that of the 'T Serwouters family of Antwerp and Amsterdam.  The male donor is accompanied by St. John, so he was presumably called Jan Serwouters and his wife is overseen by St. Margaret and a very benign dragon.  The small kneeling figure behind Jan is his son, but the small cross indicates that he was no longer alive at the time of the commission.  His wife Margaret has six daughters kneeling behind her.  We have been unable to trace the ‘T Serwouter family back to the commission, but it is possible that the branch was extinguished with the death of the young son.

We are very grateful to Peter van den Brink for his help in cataloguing this lot.