- 14
Bartholomäus Bruyn the elder
Description
- Bartholomäus Bruyn the Elder
- The Coronation of the Virgin
- oil on oak panel
Provenance
Acquired by Heinz Kisters from the above circa 1950;
By descent.
Exhibited
Bonn, Rheinisches Landesmuseum, 1997–2000, on long term loan, inv. No. D.14154;
Bonn, Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Zeitwenden, Ruckblick, 4 December 1999 – 30 April 2000, no. 49, (as Barthel Bruyn the Elder).
Literature
H.-U. Tümmers, Die Altarbilder des alteren Bartholomäus Bruyn, Cologne 1964, p. 121, under no. C 16 (as Jan Joest van Kalkar);
U. Wolff-Thomsen, Jan Joest von Kalkar. Eth niederländischer Maier urn 1500, Bielefeld 1997, pp. 373–376, plate 142 (as Barthel Bruyn the Elder);
F. G. Zehnder, 100 Bilder und Objekte: Archäologie und Kunst im Rheinischen Landesmuseum Bonn, Cologne 1999, pp.173–174, reproduced p. 175 (as Barthel Bruyn the Elder);
F. G. Zehnder in, Zeitwenden rückblick, exhibition catalogue, Bonn 1999/2000, p. 140, reproduced p. 141, fig. 49 (as Barthel Bruyn the Elder).
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 hierarchical composition and the placing of the figures upon a traditional paved floor is influenced by late Gothic prototypes, which can be found in works by artists active in Cologne in the mid to late 15th Century. The treatment of the firmament of angels, however, shows an awareness of new modes of pictorial representation, which developed as the influence of the Renaissance was felt more widely in Northern Europe.
Bruyn's early development as an artist took place in the workshop of Jan Joest van Kalkar, which he entered in 1505. Although Jan Joest was German, he was profoundly influenced by the art of the Low Countries and in particular by the artists Gerard David and Geertgen tot sint Jans. The dramatic use of light employed by Bruyn in the Coronation of the Virgin clearly demonstrates Jan Joest's influence, but the composition is entirely of Bruyn's own devising. Although this is one of the artist's first independent works, his unique artistic personality was already well developed.
A dating of circa 1515 is proposed by U. Wolff-Thomsen (see Literature), and agreed upon by Tümmers, on the basis of comparison with Bruyn's first documented altarpiece, the Coronation of the Virgin, painted in 1515 — 16, for Dr Peter von Clapis, law Professor of the University of Cologne, and his wife (fig. 1).1 Tümmers originally published the present work as by Jan Joest van Kalkar (see Literature, 1964) but revised his opinion in 1999 to identify it the first independent work of the painter, showing the influence of both Kalkar and the new Cologne style.
Two inferior versions of this composition are known. The first, oil on panel, 105 by 78 cm., now in the Erzbischofliches Diozesanmuseum Cologne, is shaped at the top and has an elaborately embroidered border of the Virgin's robe and the drapery of two angels visible in the uppermost part of the picture. The second, oil on panel, 39 by 25 cm, formerly Huber collection, Cologne, is rectangular with a simpler and more schematic firmament of angels. Both panels are much weaker than the present painting and they are regarded by Tiimmers to be painted by an unknown artist in the circle of Jan Joest van Kalkar or of Bruyn.2
1. Private collection, Munich; see Literature, Tiimmers, 1964, p. 56-57, plate A 24
2. See Literature, p. 121, no. C16, and p. 121, no. C47