Circle of Hans Leonard Schäufelein

Dr Hinrich Bischoff (1936–2005), by 2001;

Thence by descent.

Berlin, Malteser-Ritter Orden, on long-term loan, from May 2001 – March 2024.

On account of its elaborate architectural setting and the saints' facial types, this painting can be likened to the work of Hans Leonard Schäufelein (c. 1480/1485–1538/40): a pupil and assistant of Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), who was active in Nuremberg, Augsburg and Nördlingen. During its earlier history, the picture may have been double-sided, much like the example by Schäufelein in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,¹ of comparably large dimensions, which was sold in these rooms in 2011 for £2,729,250.² This hypothesis would explain the reasoning behind marouflaging the panel; its painted reverse may have been separated for sale as a unique artwork.

Alternative attributions to the Styrian School and Jörg Greimolt, a painter who worked in Upper Bavaria, have been proposed.

¹ Object no. 2011.485a, b; oil and gold on fir, 139.7 x 134.9 cm.; https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/441672.

² London, Sotheby's, 6 July 2011, lot 36; https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2011/old-master-british-paintings-evening-l11033/lot.36.html.