PIETER COECKE VAN AELST THE ELDER AND WORKSHOP | A triptych: The Adoration of the Magi; with Saint Joseph (left wing) and Balthazar (right wing)

Private collection, Spain; Acquired by a private collector, Madrid, in 1970;

By descent to his son;

By whom offered ('Property from a Private Collection'), London, Sotheby’s, 10 July 2003, lot 6, unsold;

By whom sold ('Property from a Private Collection'), London, Sotheby’s, 11 December 2003, lot 5, to Noortman;

With Bob Haboldt, Paris;

From whom acquired by Baron van Dedem at TEFAF, Maastricht, 2004.

E. Bermejo, 'Pinturas inéditas de Pieter Coecke, conservadas en Espana', in Archivo Español de Arte, no. 214, 1981, pp. 122–23, fig. 6 (as Pieter Coecke); P.C. Sutton, Dutch & Flemish Paintings, A Supplement, The Collection of Willem Baron van Dedem, London 2012, pp. 7, 24–30, no. 24, reproduced in colour on pp. 24–25 and pp. 27–29 and 31 (details).

 

The following condition report is provided by Sarah Walden who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: Pieter Coecke van Aelst the Elder. Triptych, The Adoration of the Magi. This triptych has recently been restored, with careful treatment of the panels including finely crafted backing wood and separatable cradles ensuring gentle support, to probably fragile old wood, to judge by some outer back edges. The beautiful overall condition undoubtedly reflects exceptional care and stability over many centuries. There is a very fine craquelure, with only narrow lines tracing the few joints. The pure final modelling and highly finished detail remains finely intact virtually throughout. It is almost alone the edges that have needed restoration, with all three panels having bands of retouching visible at some outer edges, under ultra violet light. In the central panel there is quite a wide band of retouching at the top edge in the sky, just a narrow line down the joint, some touches along the base and down the right edge, with just one or two minor touches in the Madonna's hand. The left panel has some retouching in the drapery, and along the base and right edge, with one narrow crack. The right panel with Balthazar is even more beautifully intact. There is one narrow line up the joint. Thiss triptych is remarkably beautifully preserved. 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."

Since its last appearance at auction this painting has been cleaned to reveal the richly varied and vibrant colours used to render in splendid detail this scene of the Magi offering their gifts to the Christ Child. Impressive and well-preserved, the painting has become more legible. Not only has the composition’s spatial arrangement gained in clarity, the figures are more defined and the vivid landscape that stretches across the whole triptych has greater impact as a unifying element. Most likely the painting dates from the artist’s maturity and was executed in the 1530s. Many variants of the composition were painted by Pieter Coecke and his workshop but this stands out from the others in being the sole one known to date to depict the scene in reverse: Caspar, the oldest Magus kneels before the seated Virgin and Child, while Melchior stands beside him. On the wings, the positions of Balthazar, the third Magus, and Saint Joseph are also inverted compared to the traditional iconography, which has Balthazar on the left wing and Saint Joseph on the right. The latter arrangement is typified by a triptych of similar dimensions to this one at the Museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht, a painting usually discussed as the most representative example of this subject and design.¹ Traditionally given to ‘Le Maître de l’Adoration des Mages d’Utrecht’ that work is considered by Georges Marlier to have been produced in the workshop of Jan van Dornicke, possibly with the participation of Pieter Coecke, his son-in-law; Friedländer assigned it to Pieter Coecke;² more recently it has been ascribed to the Master of 1518 and Pieter Coecke. 

First recorded in a private collection in Spain, The Adoration of the Magi is one of a number of variants of the composition located in Spanish collections. Their propagation attests to the exportation of such works from Antwerp to other parts of the Hapsburg empire. They include examples in the Museum in Vitoria, the Museo Lazaro Galdiano, Madrid, and other public and private repositories in Spain published by Marlier.³ Some further examples are discussed by Elisa Bermejo, who considers this version superior. In particular she notes that the quality of the figure of Balthazar surpasses that of the same figure in Pieter Coecke’s Adoration triptych at the Musée des Beaux-arts in Valenciennes.⁴ Several elements distinguish the central panel of this triptych from other treatments of the subject: the placement of the Virgin on the left is unusual; so too the pose of the Christ Child, who is semi-reclined on her lap; furthermore He holds an apple, a feature unique to this triptych.

 

1 Inv. no. ABM s 56; central panel 104 x 64.5 cm; wings each 107.5 x 28.5 cm. G. Marlier, La Renaissance flamande. Pierre Coeck d’Alost, Brussels 1966, pp. 146–49, reproduced on p. 147, fig. 77.

2 M.J. Friedländer, Early Netherlandish Painting, vol. XII: Jan van Scorel and Pieter Coeck van Aelst, Leiden 1975, pl. 79, fig. 149a (image reversed).

3 Marlier 1966, pp. 155, 157–58, figs 87, 88, 92 and 95.

4 Marlier 1966, p. 156, fig. 91.