Attributed to JUAN DE FLANDES ( Netherlands? 1465... Lot 18

Attributed to JUAN DE FLANDES ( Netherlands? 1465 - Palencia, 1519). "Ecce Homo. Oil on oak panel. It has restorations on the pictorial surface. Measurements: 51,5 x 35,5 cm; 60,5 x 45 cm (frame). The stele of the Flemish Primitives emanates from the following panel. The model created by Albrecht Bouts represented a paradigm shift in the history of art. The idealised figure of Christ in his divine version becomes that of man suffering realistically for the sins of creation. His soulful face stares at the viewer as if establishing a dialogue in which his mortifications participate. The humanity he exudes was so powerful that it was not long before it caused a resounding success throughout Europe where the various schools would develop in their own way. Despite the similarities with Bouts' model, the aesthetic singularities of this piece, which has both Italian and Hispano-Flemish stylistic reminiscences, bring us closer to the work of the painter Juan de Flandes, specifically to the work entitled "Ecce homo" which is in the Cartuja de Mira flores in Burgos. The piece is notable for the monumentality of the bust of Christ set against a gilded background which denotes both the divinity of the subject and the timelessness and immutability of religion. The hands on the chest have been delicately portrayed, capturing the little fingers in a completely personal manner. This interest in idealisation can also be seen in the face of the protagonist where, despite the wounds, Jesus retains a serious and serene gesture of rounded forms. One of the most interesting resources in this work is the artist's intention of capturing the space, since despite using a completely neutral background, he arranges the figure of Christ behind the corner of a frame on which the rope that covers the neck of Jesus' purplish brushstrokes rests. The strict frontality of the model and the features of the rounded face with almond-shaped eyes, together with a taste for the meticulous capture of detail, bring us, as already mentioned, close to the painting of Juan de Flandes, who was a Flemish painter active in Spain from 1496 to 1519. His real name is unknown, although an inscription "Juan Astrat" on the back of one work suggests a name such as "Jan van der Straat". Jan Sallaert, who became a master in Ghent in 1480, has also been suggested. He worked in the early Netherlandish style. He may have been born around 1460 somewhere in Flanders. He evidently trained in his native country, most probably in Ghent, as his work shows similarities to that of Joos van Wassenhove, Hugo van der Goes and other Ghent artists. He is only documented after he became an artist at the court of Queen Isabella I of Castile, where he is mentioned for the first time in the accounts of 1496. He is described as a "court painter" in 1498 and continued in the queen's service until his death in 1504. He painted mainly portraits of the royal family, but also most of a large series of small panels for a polyptychal altarpiece of the queen. The panels have been dispersed and the largest number of panels are in the royal collection in Madrid. After the death of Queen Isabella in 1504, Juan de Flandes turned to ecclesiastical commissions from Spanish churches, beginning in Salamanca in 1505-1507. He later settled in Palencia, where there is a large altarpiece in the cathedral. The vast majority of his work in collections outside Spain dates from the latter period, during which he concentrated on religious themes. The panels of a large altarpiece in a Palencia church are divided between the Prado and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, which have four panels each. His works show the early Netherlandish style of Ghent adapted to Spanish taste and landscape, in particular the requirements for groups of compartmentalised scenes for altarpieces.