Frans Pourbus the Elder and Workshop

Léon Ghinet, Liege, by 1905 until at least 1911;
Anonymous sale, Munich,Weinmüller Münchener Kunstversteigerungshaus, 26 June 1963, lot 1149 (as Willem Key);
Private collection, Germany;
With Galerie Bodan, Konstanz, 1968;
Private collection, Germany;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 14 December 2001, lot 8 (as Circle of Frans Pourbus the Elder);
Private collection, New York. 

Liége, Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Liége, Exposition de L’Art Ancien Au Pays de Liége, 1905, no. 1037 (as attributed to Lambert Lombard);
Charleroi, Exposition de Charleroi, 1911, no. 71 (as Lambert Lombard).

G. Hulin van Loo, "Notes sur quelques tableaux gatois," in Bulletin de la Société D’Histoire et D’Archeologie De Gand, Ghent 1906, p. 67 (as a replica of the central composition in Frans Pourbus' triptych for Viglius d'Ayatta);
S. Bergmans, "Le triptyque de Viglius d'Aytta de François Pourbus 'van die beroerlycke tyden,'" in Revue Belge D’Archéologie et D’Histoire de L’Art, IX, 1939, p. 211;
S. Bergmans, La Peinture Ancienne, Ses Mystères-Ses Secrets, Brussels 1952, pp. 47-48;
S. Bergmans, "Deux oeuvres retrouvés de François Pourbus l'Ancien: a) Volet de triptyque, en revers: Saint Légier; b) La premère version du triptyque de Viglius s'Aytta," in Revue Belge d'Archéologie et d'Histoire de l'Art, XXXVI, 1967, 1-4, pp. 3-16, reproduced fig. 6;
G. Brackez, Fran Pourbus de Oudere (1545-1581) Een Blik op Zijn Leven en Oeuvre, 2011-2012, masters dissertation, University of Ghent, Belgium, pp. 81-82, cat. no. A66.  

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an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This work is painted on a panel which is originally made from four pieces of wood joined horizontally. There is a cradle on the reverse which stabilizes and flattens the panel. The work has been lightly cleaned and may have been recently restored. Some of these restorations are visible under ultraviolet light across the cracks and joins in the panel and in a few isolated spots. There may be other retouches beneath the older varnish which slightly screens ultraviolet light. It can be seen that the condition is very good in the standing figure furthest to the left. Many of the figures are well preserved in general, but there are two horizontal cracks which have attracted restorations in the upper center. There is weakness in the floor and across the bottom edge. This may well be a picture that should be properly cleaned and retouched. The restoration at present is competent, but it could be improved to make the picture look its best and its quality more evident. The condition is quite respectable for a work of this period.
"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."

In her 1967 article, Dr. Simone Bergmans proposed this is as an autograph version of Frans Pourbus the Elder's altarpiece of 1571 in the Cathedral of Saint Bavo, Ghent, also known as the Viglius Triptych. The altarpiece's patron, Viglius van Ayatta (1507-1577), is visible in the bright red robe and green hat on the left. 

The primary difference among these two paintings lies in the number and identity of the figures that surround the high-priest at center.  Bergmans, who dates the present painting to circa 1566-1567, suggests that the revisions were a response to Viglius' demands to change the figures included in the composition in order to align himself with the fluctuating politics of the late 1560s and early 1570s.  Because Pourbus was already far along in the present design, to meet the demands of his patron, he and his workshop likely abandoned the composition of the present work to start afresh with that of the altarpiece now in Ghent.  For example, Charles de Lorraine (Cardinal of Guise) appears to the right of the priest in the present work.  He was active at the 1561 Colloquy of Poissy, but towards the end of the 1560s he had fallen out of favor with many of the courts of Northern Europe, most notably being expelled from Catherine de Medici's in 1570.  In the final Viglius Triptych, he seems to be replaced with Jacques Hessels, a member of the Council of Troubles, a powerful group assembled in 1567 to denounce religious and political incendiaries of the era.¹ 

The argument for this work as a collaboration between Pourbus himself and his workshop is further supported by the visible pentimenti throughout the panel, such as the position of the figure standing in the left foreground.  Inspection under IRR reveals the outlines of two additional figures, one kneeling in the lower right and one standing at center, changes that reveal how Pourbus was actively working through the composition (fig. 1).  At the time of its 2001 sale, the present work was sold with a certificate from Jan de Maere dated 10 December 1999, which stated his belief that this is an autograph work by Pourbus, left incomplete at the time of his death and later finished by his studio.

1. See Bergmans, 1967, in Literature.