MEESTER VAN PAULUS EN BARNABAS

Christ carrying the cross. Antwerp. Second quarter 16th century. Oil on panel. Retouchings. 83 x 112.5 cm (99 x 128.5 cm) The name ‘Master of Paul and Barnabas’ refers to a group of paintings attributed by several art historians to one anonymous master active in Antwerp around 1530-1540. F. Winkler linked this group of paintings to a panel depicting St. Paul and Barnabas at Lystra in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts (inv. 4315) in Budapest which eventually lead to his current name. The anonymous painter was previously identified as Jan van Hemessen (c. 1500-1556/57), Jan van Amstel (c. 1500-ca. 1540), the young Pieter Aertsen (1508-1575) and Jan Mandijn (c. 1500-ca. 1560).¹ The attribution to Jan van Hemessen seemed evident as the Master of Paul and Barnabas provided the smaller figures in several his large compositions. For example Van Hemessen's brothel scene in the collection of the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe (inv. 152), above in the sky on a grand triptych depicting the Last Judgment in the Church of St. Jacob in Antwerp (cf. RKD images no. 216196 and in a triptych depicting Saint Sebastian in the collection of the Petit Palais in Paris (cf. RKDimages no. 55521). We know that Jan van Hemessen relied on several collaborators to complete his backgrounds including the Brunswick Monogrammist (act. 1525-1545).² This may explain why Sotheby's attributed the present panel to the Brunswick Monogrammist when they featured the present painting their 1993 December sale (London, 8.12.1993, lot 51). It is less known that addition to Jan van Hemessen's compositions, the Master of Paul and Barnabas also provided the staffage figures in some of Herri met de Bles’ (act. 1533-1566) landscapes including the landscape with King David and Bathsheba in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (inv. P25W40) in Boston.³ The mannerist figures of the Master of Paul and Barnabas are characterized by pointed faces with deep eye sockets, narrow ankles with pronounced heels, distinct hand gestures with thin fingers, and flowy costumes in warm-toned colours. The present Carrying of the Cross is a new addition to the small group of paintings in which the figures of the Master of Paul and Barnabas come into the foreground. In addition to the Budapest painting mentioned above, the KMSKB houses a painting depicting the The Healing of the Paralytic of Capernaum (inv. 12065) . An equally impressive architectural setting - presumably added by another hand - can be found on a panel depicting the Feast of Ahasuerus, auctioned on October 22, 2019 at Dorotheum (lot 150). Finally, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, The National Gallery in Washington, the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen in Kassel, the Bonnefanten Museum in Maastricht, the Descalzas Reales and the BNP Paribas Fortis bank also own paintings by the Master of Paul and Barnabas.⁴ This small group of paintings has not yet revealed all its secrets. Both the identity of the intriguing anonymous painter as well as his impressive artistic network, offer an opportunity for further research. We thank Jean-Pierre De Bruyn for sharing his opinion regarding the attribution to the Master of Paul and Barnabas based on high-resolution photographs. 1. Jean-Pierre De Bruyn, De Meester van Paulus en Barnabas (Jan Mandijn ?) en een vroeg werk van Pieter Aertsen, in: 'Rubens and his world', Antwerp 1985, pp. 17-29. 2. This anonymous artist is identified by some art historians as Jan van Amstel, cf. Matthias Ubl, Der Braunschweiger Monogrammist. Wegbereiter der niederländischen Genremalerei vor Bruegel, Rijksmuseum (Michael Imhof), 2014. 3. Voir Jacques Toussaint (éd.), Autour de Henri Bles, Société Archéologique de Namur, 2000, cat. nos 4, 9, 10 et 20. 4. For an illustration of these paintings, cf. op cit. De Bruyn, 1985 et Ana Diéguez Rodríguez, 'Una crucifixión del Maestro de Pablo y Barnabás en las Descalzas Reales' in Reales sitios. Vol. 51, 2014, no. 199, pp. 76-80.