Meister der Magdalenen-Legende

Master of the Magdalene legend Mary with her child Oil on wood. 37 x 27.5 cm. Expert opinion Max J. Friedländer. Provenance Arthur Hauth Collection, Düsseldorf. - Lempertz, Cologne, 14.3.1963, lot 12. - Bavarian private collection. - Lempertz, Cologne, 5.12.1998, lot 1078. - South German private collection. Literature About the artist: Max J. Friedländer: Die Altniederländische Malerei, Berlin, 1924, vol. XII, p. 15 ff. The lively child lying in his mother's arms playfully grasps his toe with his right hand and holds a red rose in his left. The background is a richly gilded brocade velvet with a pomegranate pattern. The Master of the Magdalene Legend takes his name from a triptych, the wings of which are now in various museums. He worked for the court in Brussels and Mechelen in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. He was particularly closely associated with the Dukes of Burgundy and the Habsburgs who succeeded them. He created several portraits of Philip the Fair and - for example on the left wing of a triptych created by several painters around 1492 for Duke Adolf of Cleves (now in the National Gallery in Melbourne) - portraits of other members of the Burgundian royal family. The master's workshop also produced numerous half-length Madonna paintings, which were evidently intended to satisfy the strong demand for private devotional images (Friedländer op. cit. plate VI).