All works in Early Netherlandish Paintings

anonymous

Right Wing of an Altarpiece with the Gathering of Manna (inner wing) and Ecclesia (outer wing)

Antwerp, Low Countries, c. 1510 - c. 1520

Object data

oil on panel

frame: height 113.5 cm × width 82.5 cm
thickness 4 cm
support: height 102 cm × width 71.2 cm
sight size: height 110.7 cm × width 69.5 cm

Technical notes

The support consists of three vertically grained oak planks (23.8, 25.5 and 21.6 cm), approx. 0.3-0.7 cm thick. The panel is fixed in its current 19th-century frame in such a manner as to render dendrochronology impossible. Both sides of the support are painted. The thick off-white ground is visible through small cracks in the paint layer and along the edges, and was applied when the panel was in the original frame, as there is a barbe and unpainted edges of 0.6-0.7 cm on all sides (painted surface: approx. 101.3 x 69.6 cm) on both the front and reverse of the panel. Infrared reflectography revealed a sketchy underdrawing in a dry medium in the faces, bodies and drapery folds on both sides of the panel. Parallel hatching was used to indicate shadows. In the light areas the underdrawing can be seen with the naked eye. Infrared reflectography also revealed colour notations in the yellow collar (‘gel’) and white garment (‘pv’) of the man kneeling in the foreground. The smoothly applied paint was built up systematically, with medium tones covered by darker glazes in shadow areas and by lighter tones in lighter areas. There are quite a few 'pentimenti', for example in the mountains, the handles of the two baskets and the head of the boy in the foreground. In the grisaille on the reverse the paint layers were built up in a similar fashion, only less elaborately.

Scientific examination and reports

  • condition report: Heemstra (Mauritshuis) , G. van, Mauritshuis, 18 November 1996
  • infrared reflectography: J.R.J. van Asperen de Boer, RKD, AB 1493: 25-37; AB 1494: 1-36A; AB 1495: 1-37; AB 1496: 1-19, 16 August 1993
  • paint samples: J.R.J. van Asperen de Boer, Mauritshuis, A 372/1 - A 372/4, 23 September 1993
  • condition report: I. Verslype, RMA, 7 November 2005
  • infrared reflectography: M. Wolters, RKD, 7 November 2005

Condition

Fair. There are deep scratches, which extend into the white ground, in the faces on both sides of the panel and in the host, chalice and hands on the reverse. The painting is abraded, with losses throughout. On the front of the panel there is raised paint in the reds. The losses at the back have not been filled in. The varnish is discoloured.

Conservation

  • W.A. Hopman, 1887: paint layers on the reverse consolidated
  • Pottasch (Mauritshuis) , C., 1992: paint layer consolidated
  • Heemstra (Mauritshuis) , G., November 1996 - February 1997: complete restoration, deep scratches as a result of Iconoclasm on the back were only partly treated because of their historical value. The front was fully retouched.

Provenance

…; ? property of the Maria Magdalenakerk (Church of St Mary Magdalen), Goes; transferred with SK-A-867 to the Heilige Geest/Holy Spirit Hospital (the former Convent of St Agnes), Goes, 1578-1875;1 ...; sale, J.P.C. Baron van Reede van ter Aa en Aasten et al., Amsterdam (C.F. Roos and C.F. Roos Jr), 16 December 1875, nos. 36A and 36B, as Lucas van Leyden (‘A. Un chevalier suivi de ses guerriers, agenouillé devant un évêque qui lui présente une relique. Sur le revers une statue représentant la Foi. B. Le miracle ‘‘de la manne’’ dans le désert. Sur le revers, une jeune femme tenant le St. Sacrement. Hauteur 102, largeur 73 cent. Bois.’), fl. 360, to Boas Berg, for the Nederlandsch Museum voor Geschiedenis en Kunst (inv. nos. NM 2981, 2982);2 transferred with SK-A-867 to the museum, 1885; on loan with SK-A-867 to the Mauritshuis, The Hague, 1960-2004; on loan with SK-A-867 to the Zeeuws Museum, Middelburg, since 2004

Object number: SK-A-867

Copyright: Public domain

The artist

Citation

V. Hoogland, 2010, 'anonymous, Right Wing of an Altarpiece with the Gathering of Manna (inner wing) and Ecclesia (outer wing), Antwerp, c. 1510 - c. 1520', in J.P. Filedt Kok (ed.), Early Netherlandish Paintings, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.7036

(accessed 20 September 2024 17:40:32).

Footnotes