Follower of Rogier van der Weyden

After a presumed lost work

J. Brade et al., sale Cologne, Heberle, 25–26 October 1897, lot 259 (as Michael Wohlgemut), for DM250;
Van Speybrouck collection, Bruges;
His sale, Bruges, Salle des Prévoyants Brugeois, 26 July 1928, lot 149;
Acquired at the above sale by Baron Coppée;
Thence by descent. 

Brussels, Exposition universelle internationale, Cinq siècle d'arts, I: Peintures arts anciens bruxellois et sections étrangers, 24 May – 13 October 1935, no. 25;
Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts, 66 tableaux de maîtres anciens, parmi lesquels quelques chefs d'œuvre. La Société la Peau de l'Ours, August – September 1937, no. 40;
Tokyo, Tobu Museum of Art, The World of Bruegel. The Coppée Collection and Eleven International Museums, 29 March – 25 June 1995, no. F5.

E. Salin, 'Copies ou variations anciennes d'une œuvre perdue de Rogier van der Weyden', in Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. 13, Paris 1935, pp. 21, 26, reproduced p. 19, fig. 5;
S. Leclercq et al., La Collection Coppée, Tokyo 1991, pp. 12–13, reproduced;
M. Wilmott, in the catalogue of the exhibition The World of Bruegel. The Coppée Collection and Eleven International Museums, Tokyo 1995, pp. 161–162, cat. no. F5, reproduced.

The paint surface is dirty and the varnish layer very discoloured, but in excellent condition throughout. The panel has an old and secure cradle. There are three old restored verticle splits in the centre of the panel. The old restoration here has discoloured. There is an old restored loss on the hair of St John.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The composition is thought to derive from a lost original by Rogier van der Weyden, probably painted around 1430. The design must have enjoyed exceptional popularity to judge from the large number of copies and variants that were produced after it. These fall into two main groups, those with just the figures of Christ, Mary and Joseph of Arimethea, and those in which a fourth figure of Saint John is added, such as in the present example, and which are likely to most closely reflect the lost prototype. Around ten versions of the former type are known, some of which date from the fifteenth century, the best being that in the Royal Collection in Buckingham Palace, which has been attributed to the Bruges Master of the Magdalene Legend.¹ The Coppée panel is a particularly fine example of the second type, and is distinguished by the firmness of the modelling, the attention to details such as the hands, and the successful evocation of emotion. This type seems to have been produced exclusively in the sixteenth century, with examples originating in Bruges, Brussels and Antwerp, and was seemingly more numerous.² Recent dendrochronological examination by Ian Tyers has confirmed a felling date dating for the present panel to after 1505.

1. D. De Vos, Rogier van der Weyden. Das Gesamtwerk, Munich 1999, pp. 368–369, cat. no. B11.
2. See, for example, those listed by M. J. Friedländer, Early Netherlandish Painting, vol. II: Rogier van der Weyden and the Master of Flémalle, Leiden and Brussels 1967, pp. 79–80, under cat. no. 97.