Lot 6: JAN GOSSAERT, CALLED MABUSE | The Virgin and Child

oil on oak panel

38.9 by 26.6 cm.; 15 3/8  by 10 1/2  in.

oil on oak panel

The following condition report is provided by Sarah Walden who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: Jan Gossaert, Mabuse. Madonna and Child. This painting is on a good flat oak panel. There is a narrow strip down the left edge, which is very close in date but differs slightly in texture and craquelure, and could conceivably be in a marginally later, studio, hand. The exceptionally beautiful condition of the painting has been retained since an evidently peaceful early history. The delicate marbled background remains intact as does the intricate modelling of the Madonna's veil and the drawing of the hands for instance around the Child's legs and stomach with their richly intact glazing, as also in the finely balanced brushwork of both heads. The high quality ultramarine from lapis lazuli has retained its intense shadows in the modelling of the central bodice of the Madonna, however on the right the final glazing has been diminished, with the structure of any folds flattened. The right side has also had some wear in the modelling around the eye of the Child and in His hair. The hair tends to have the most vulnerable pigments and there is also a small darkened retouching on the Child's forehead just below His thicker curls. The lower right side also suffered the only actual losses in the painting, one on the wrist of the Child and another nearby on the fingers of the Madonna, both of which have been carefully filled and retouched in the past, and have now slightly darkened. One other small retouching can be seen on the edge of the Madonna's finger on Christ's thigh. Narrow fairly recent retouching is visible under ultra violet light down the joint on the left. But these are minimal imperfections in an exquisitely preserved painting. This report was not done under laboratory conditions.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Berlin, Akademie der Künste, Ausstellung von Werken alter Kunst: Aus dem Privatbesitz von Mitgliedern des Kaiser Friedrich-Museums-Vereins, 1914, no. 49;

Rotterdam, Museum Boymans, Jeroen Bosch. Van Geertgen tot Scorel. Noord-nederlandsche primitieven, 10 July – 15 October 1936, no. 107;

London, National Gallery, on loan from 1993 to December 2012 (inv. L650);

London, National Gallery, Jan Gossaert’s Renaissance, 23 February – 30 May 2011, no. 13.

M.J. Friedländer, 'De Verzameling von Kaufmann te Berlijn,’ in Onze kunst, vol. 5, no. 2, 1906, p. 34;

E. Weisz, Jan Gossart gen. Mabuse, sein Leven und seine Werke…, Parchim in M. 1913, p. 118, reproduced plate XII, no. 33 (originally presented as Doctoral Diss., 1912);

M.J. Friedländer, Die altniederländische Malerei, vol. VIII, Berlin & Leiden 1930, p. 156, no. 30, reproduced plate XXVIII;

G. von der Osten, in M. Meiss (ed.), 'Studien zu Jan Gossaert,’ in De artibus opuscula XL, Essays in Honor of Erwin Panofsky, New York 1961, vol. I, pp. 454, 469;

S. Herzog, Jan Gossart called Mabuse (ca. 1478–1532): A Study of His Chronology with a Catalogue of His Works, Doctoral Diss., Bryn Mawr 1968, pp. 286–87, no. 38, as datable circa 1525–30;

M.J. Friedländer, Early Netherlandish Painting, vol. VIII, Leiden 1972, p. 94, no. 30, reproduced plate 32;

National Gallery Report, London 1994, pp. 20–21;

M. Wolff, in M. Wolff (ed.), Northern European and Spanish Paintings before 1600 in the Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Collection, New Haven & London 2008, p. 231;

L. Campbell, in M.W. Ainsworth (ed.), Man, Myth, and Sensual Pleasure. Jan Gossart’s Renaissance, New Haven & London 2010, pp. 164–66, no. 13, reproduced p. 165, as datable circa 1520.

Private collection, Bruges;

Richard von Kaufmann (circa 1850–1908), Berlin, by whom acquired in 1902;

By inheritance to his widow;

The Richard von Kaufmann sale, Berlin, Paul Cassirer, 4ff December 1917, lot 92, as painted circa 1520, in its original frame;

Eduard Simon (1864–1929), Berlin;

His sale, Berlin, Cassirer & Helbing, 10–11 October 1929, lot 24;

Dr. Wolfgang Huck, Berlin, by 1930, and probably acquired at the Simon sale;

Thence by descent to the present owner.