1009 - Meister der Antwerpener Anbetung, zugeschrieben

Meister der Antwerpener Anbetung, zugeschrieben Master of the Antwerp Adoration, attributed to The Sermon of John the Baptist Oil on panel. 55 x 46 cm. Provenance Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, 12 May 1941, lot 134 (Le Maître de 1518). – Galerie Dr. phil. Hans Rudolph, 28–29 September 1950, lot 207 (as Meister der Grooteschen Anbetung). – Presumably acquired there and German private collection ever since. Literature On the Master of the Antwerp Adoration, cf. M. J. Friedländer: The Antwerp Mannerists of 1520, in: Jahrbuch der königlichen preußischen Kunstsammlungen, XXXVI (1915) pp. 65–91. – M. J. Friedländer: Die Altniederländische Malerei, Leiden 1934, Vol. XI, p. 39f. – P. van den Brink: A Shattered Jigsaw Puzzle. On a Partly Reconstructed Altarpiece by the Master of the Antwerp Adoration, in: Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch, LXVIII (2007), pp. 161–180. Barefoot and wrapped in a red garment, John the Baptist stands in a forest clearing and points with an outstretched arm toward the assembled audience. Depicted is his preaching according to Matthew 3:1–12 and Luke 3:7–18, including the admonitions addressed to the people, tax collectors, and soldiers. Men and women of different ages listen to his words; some are seated or kneeling in the foreground, while others stand behind them. Their varied gestures and colourful, richly ornamented, or exotic-looking garments enliven the scene. Between the trees, the view opens onto a bright, hilly landscape with a town or castle. The changing attributions reflect the stylistic affinities within early sixteenth-century Antwerp painting. In 1941, the painting was offered for sale as a work by the Master of 1518; in 1950, it was attributed to the Master of the Von Groote Adoration (Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main, inv. no. 1403). The painterly execution and facial types place the panel in the entourage of the Master of the Antwerp Adoration. Comparable physiognomies can be found on the wings of the Passion Altarpiece in St. Martinus in Linnich, Düren district, which Peter van den Brink cited in 2007 as being closely related stylistically. The woman shown from the back, with her distinctive headdress, also appears in further works. The treatment of the figures, the motifs, and the painterly execution point to a anartist working in the immediate entourage of the Master of the Antwerp Adoration. We would like to thank Peter van den Brink for confirming the attribution on the basis of a digital photograph.