Antwerp master Bartholomew Bruyn the Elder, workshop Flemish... Lot 2008

Antwerp master Bartholomew Bruyn the Elder, workshop Flemish triptych with Cologne founder's portraits: Lamentation of Christ on the central panel, the founder with St. Peter on the left wing, his wife with their daughter and St. Catherine on the right wing. Oil on wood (parquet). Central panel 53 x 41.5 cm, side wings each 53 x 19 cm. Provenance Belgian private collection. The present Flemish-Rhenish triptych is a fine example of a "bicultural" work. The work, which is highly interesting from an art-historical point of view, was created in Antwerp around 1530-40 and was decorated with portraits of donors in the workshop of Bartholomäus Bruyn in Cologne a little later. Dr. Didier Martens of the University of Brussels (ULB) is preparing a paper on this phenomenon, in which this as well as other previously unrecognized examples of Flemish-Rhenish triptychs have been published by them. We thank him for the following catalog contribution: "The triptych was made in Antwerp. The Lamentation of Christ on the central panel can be associated in terms of composition with works by both Quinten Massys and Josse van Cleve. Stylistically, however, it is closer to Josse van Cleve because of the full head. It was first a so-called inscription triptych, a relatively rarely attested form of the Old Netherlandish triptych. In such works, only the central panel has a figurative representation. On the wings there is only text, in most cases a Bible passage or a prayer, always in Latin. Such triptychs were rather small in size and probably functioned as private altars. In the case of this triptych, the text has been completely painted over. Thanks to the x-ray image (fig. 1) it is nevertheless legible : Left wing : " De cruce / deponitur hora ves/pertina / fortitudo / latuit in / mente di/vina tale(m) / mortem / subiit mu(n)/di medica " ; Right wing : " Tande(m) ho/ra debita / datur se/pulturae / : corpus [Christi nobi]/le spes vi/te future / conditur / aromate com/plentur scr(iptu)r(ae) ". The deliberate text, a poem, comes from an Officium sanctae Crucis associated with Pope John XXII (1336-1364). He had this Officium, which is not known before his time, circulated. The text itself was included in several books of hours and breviars of the late Middle Ages. See for a text edition G.M. Dreves, Reimgebete und Leselieder des Mittelalters. Dritte Folge: Stunden-und-Glossen-Lieder, Leipzig 1898, pp. 33-34. This information has been provided by Dr. R. Godding (Brussels, Société des Bollandistes). The choice of the excerpt may be due to a wish of the commissioner of the triptych. In terms of content, it fits perfectly with the representation on the central panel: namely, it refers to the descent from the cross and to the burial of the body of Christ. A few years after its completion, the Flemish triptych was brought to Cologne. There it was adapted to the ideas of a local family. The Latin text then had to give way to portraits of donors with their patron saints. The execution of these figures can be attributed to a painter from the workshop of Barthel Bruyn the Elder. The new owner of the triptych, who had his coat of arms added, had himself depicted with St. Peter on the left wing. On the right wing is his wife with their young daughter. Both are under the protection of St. Catherine. Probably, after the death of the family, the triptych fulfilled the function of an epitaph picture in a chapel. The theme of the Lamentation of Christ, of course, also fit very well with the new function of the triptych. There are other examples of Flemish triptychs that were provided with donor portraits in Cologne. Thus, "bicultural" works were created that are indebted to both the Flemish and the Rhenish traditions (see about this phenomenon: K. Löcher, Ein niederländischer Dreikönigsaltar des 16. Jahrhunderts im Kölner Dom und verwandte Altarretabel in Kölner Kirchen, Kölner Domblatt 67, 2002, pp. 195-222)." The founder's coat of arms has not yet been identified. X-ray and infrared images also show old alterations. According to the Historical Archive of Cologne, it is not the coat of arms of one of the great old families of Cologne. The lower part could be a craftsman's or house mark, which would then speak for a rich family from the middle income segment. The motif of the mill iron in the lower part is also used in the coat of arms of the von Hatzfeld family. Whether there is a connection here requires further investigation. A note on this question of heraldry is available on request. COMPARATIVE ILLUSTRATION Fig. 1/Ill. 1: Infrarotaufnahmen der Seitenflügel / Infrared images of the side wings (David Strivay, Université de Liège)