- 5
Antwerp Mannerist School, early 16th century
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
The Salberg Family, New York;
With Newhouse Galleries, New York (as The Master of 1518);
Where purchased by the present collector in 1964.
Condition
"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
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.