Attributed to Lucas Gassel

The panel is cradled and has four horizontal surface splits running across the panel, at fairly equal intervals. These lines have been retouched and have discoloured slightly, as has a horizontal line of restoration to some tenting, measuring approx. 15 cm., running down from the sky above the river, upper left. There is a discoloured restoration to a previous loss, measuring approx. 1 by 1 cm., in the sky, upper left (visible in the catalogue illustration), and the dark area of the sky, upper left, has been retouched. Inspection under ultraviolet reveals an old, milky varnish, beneath which scattered spot retouching and strengthening is visible throughout the painting, most notably in the sky, in the ground around the figures in the foreground, in the lighter tones of the foreground and in the cliffs behind the trees, upper right, and in some of the foliage, particularly the trees, lower left. In moderate overall condition with a discoloured varnish.
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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 Temptation of Christ, as recounted in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, is a rare pictorial theme, even among cycles of scenes from the New Testament.¹ It is perfectly suited, however, to the detailed mountainous landscapes of Gassel and his contemporaries, such as Herri met de Bles and Cornelis Massys, inspired by the example of Joachim Patinir.² Gassel treated the subject in another painting, offered in these rooms, 8 July 2015, lot 32, which similarly represents two out of the three temptations, with Christ and the Devil shown both discoursing in the foreground and atop the mountain beyond. Like that painting and so much of Gassel's work, this panel reflects the artist's interest in the complex construction of an imagined landscape, geological formations, and fantastic architecture, presenting his figure of Christ with as irresistible a prospect as possible.

A mount at the Witt Library, London, records an almost identical landscape not including the figures, which was sold Vienna, Dorotheum, 15 November 1955, lot 44 (as Gassel).

We are grateful to Professor Walter Gibson for supporting the attribution of the present work to Lucas Gassel, on the basis of a digital image. 

1. For a full discussion of the iconography, see G. Schiller, Iconography of Christian Art, London 1971, vol. I, pp. 143–45.
2. See, for example, Massys' drawing of the subject (National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, inv. no. D 1710); see W. Gibson, "Mirror of the Earth" The World Landscape in Sixteenth-Century Flemish Painting, Princeton 1989, p. 21, reproduced fig. 2.20.