Circle of Jan Jansz. Mostaert

The Temptation of Christ

Auction Closed

May 20, 03:42 PM GMT

Estimate

20,000 - 30,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Property of a Private American Collector

Circle of Jan Jansz. Mostaert

The Temptation of Christ

oil on panel

panel: 21 by 25 ¾ in.; 52.8 by 65.2 cm.

framed: 29 ¾ by 34 ¼ in.; 75.6 by 87 cm.

With Walter Paech, Amsterdam, 1942 (according to Friedländer photo archive);

With Galerie J.H. Borghouts, Utrecht;

H.B.N. Ledeboer (1892-1979), Enschede, by 1953 (here and above as by Jan Mostaert);

Anonymous sale, Amsterdam, Christie's, 13 October 2009, lot 17 (as attributed to Jan Mostaert;

Anonymous sale, Paris, Sotheby's, 26 June 2019, lot 15 (as Circle of Jan Mostaert);

There acquired.

Oude kunst uit Twents particulier bezit, exhibition catalogue, Almelo 1953, pp. 21-22, cat. no. 30, reproduced fig. 1a (as by Jan Mostaert and erroneously mentioning the Van Valkenburg-collection in its provenance);
M.J. Friedländer, Early Netherlandish Painting, Leiden 1973, vol. X, p. 69, reproduced plate 10, cat. no. 9 (as by Jan Mostaert and erroneously mentioning the Van Valkenburg-collection).

In the present scene, as detailed in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, Satan visited Christ and tried to tempt him into sin while he was fasting in the Judaean desert for 40 days. In the foreground, Satan appears as an old beggar, and asks Jesus to change stones into bread to quell his own hunger. In the right background, Satan appears in all black and offers dominion over the entire world to Jesus if he would worship him instead. Adding to the naturalism of the landscape, a few deer look on at these interactions.

A copy of the present work was in the Dr. C.T. van Valkenburg-collection, sold Geneva, Galerie Moos, 23 May 1936, lot 106 (as by Gillis Mostaert).¹

1. Although listed as attributed to Jan Mostaert (c. 1475-1552/3) in the RKD, Dr. Suzanne Laemers, Curator of Early Netherlandish Paintings at the RKD, does not accept the attribution of the present work to the artist, judging from photographs.