Workshop of Rogier van der Weyden

A convent in Segovia;

Anonymous sale ('The Property of a Gentleman'), London, Christie's, 29 June 1973, lot 13 (as Circle of Rogier van der Weyden);

Private collection, Spain.

T. Rousseau, 'A Flemish altarpiece from Spain', in The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, IX, 1951, pp. 270–83;

M. Beas-Dondeyne, 'Een Teruggevonden Luik van het Brussels Geboorteretabel uit 'The Cloisters' te New York', in Bulletin van het Koninklijk Institut, Brussels, XI, 1969, pp. 93–108;

M.W. Ainsworth (ed.), From Van Eyck to Bruegel. Early Netherlandish Painting in the Metropolitam Museum of Art, New York 1998, p. 212, both reproduced (in reverse; as 'Workshop of Rogier van der Weyden').

The following condition report is provided by Sarah Walden who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: Rogier van der Weyden workshop. Circumcision. This painting on panel has a fine craquelure throughout. Much beautifully preserved paint remains finely intact with glazed shadows completely unworn, which is especially evident in the figures on the left, as well as in some other areas. The central joint passes – as quite often - through the Madonna's head, causing minor retouching on the left of her face and through her beautiful headdress, continuing down through the left of the Childs face and body, with similar light old retouching. The reds in the drapery of the priest appear to have been slightly strengthened. There is also some retouching along the base edge and in various parts of the upper right background, just touching the head of the beautiful figure of the donor on the right. A few flakes have recently been lost at the extreme right edge. The narrower section of the panel on the left has remained exceptionally good in general and largely untouched. St John. This painting appears to be on a separate panel, with a joint up the centre left and a fine crack running down the upper right rather than a joint. The darker red of the shadow of the Saint on the right in the alcove has been strengthened while the left side appears finely intact, with some retouching on the left near the base in the platform of the Saint. The figure himself has been largely well preserved with some retouching in the drapery. This report was not done under laboratory conditions.
"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."

This altar wing, depicting the Circumcision of Christ on its interior and Saint John the Evangelist on its exterior, is one of two missing wings from the large Polyptych of the Nativity, today in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, that was painted in the workshop of the seminal figure of Netherlandish painting, Rogier van der Weyden. The re-appearance of this altar wing allows us a greater understanding of the construction and purpose of the Nativity altarpiece. Indeed, at the right of this Circumcision appears a depiction of a young man which is likely to be a portrait of the original donor of the altarpiece. 

It has been tentatively suggested that originally this wing would have been placed directly to the right of the central panel: between the central panel and the right hand panel depicting the Adoration of the Magi. The corresponding panel on the left remains lost but has been tentatively identified in the past as an Annunciation last recorded in a private collection in England in 1951.¹ The present and the missing panels might equally have been placed at the extreme right and left, thus allowing a continuous chronological narrative from left to right: Annunciation to the Virgin; Visitation; Nativity; Adoration of the Magi; and Circumcision. When closed the reverse of each wing would have been on view, and thus a series of four saints, each standing within a carved stone niche, would have greeted the viewer. 

Dendrochronological analysis of the Metropolitan panels gives a plausible date of execution for the altarpiece in 1459 or later. On this basis it may therefore be hypothesized that the altarpiece was produced during the lifetime of Rogier van der Weyden (who died in 1464) and, given its great debt to his work, it would seem highly likely that it was produced in his workshop. 

The subjects to the left and right of the Nativity in the central panel (in the Metropolitan Museum), the Annunciation to Augustus and the Annunciation to the Magi, are extremely unusual and are found, respectively, in the descriptions of the feasts of the Nativity and Epiphany in Jacobus de Voragine’s Golden Legend. Here, their appearance probably derives from Rogier’s Bladelin triptych (Berlin, Gemäldegalerie), the only altarpiece painted prior to 1459 which includes these stories. Furthermore, the presence of the banderoles in the main panel of the Metropolitan altarpiece is particularly interesting in relation to the Bladelin triptych. Although not visible on the painted surface now, infra-red photography of the Bladelin panel reveals that such banderoles were originally conceived for it, as was the circle around the Christ-star in the Annunciation to the Magi. With such strong links to the Bladelin triptych it seems very likely that the design of the latter was used in the workshop of Rogier and that the painter of this altarpiece used it for reference when executing the work. 

In the entry on the Nativity altarpiece in M.W. Ainsworth (ed.) 1998 (see Literature), the images are not only reversed but also show a repainted area from the head of the donor figure down to the back of the neck of the foremost figure. This area of overpaint has since been removed, restoring this small area to its presumably original appearance.

Note on the Provenance
It is not known when this (and the missing) panel were separated from the main altarpiece. However, it was certainly before 1854 as they are not described in the Christie’s auction catalogue of 25 March that year when the Nativity altarpiece was sold by J.D. Gardner Esq. of Bottisham Hall, Cambridgeshire. Prior to that sale the altarpiece is recorded in the collection of a ‘Frasinelli’ in Stuttgart in 1843, and before that in a convent in Segovia in Spain. It is possible, even probable, that the altarpiece’s departure from the convent, and its dismemberment, occurred during the Desamortisación between 1835–37.

1. This Annunication however has no painted saint on the reverse and shows no sign of being sawn, so that any identification of it as the missing panel remains inconclusive.