Lot 89: Ription Jan Mostaert (Haarlem c. 1475 - c. 1555)

Ription Jan Mostaert (Haarlem c. 1475 - c. 1555) The Adoration of the Magi, oil on panel, 56 x 53.5 cm, in a carved and gilded box-type frame in the style of the Renaissance, (GS) Provenance: Rhenish private collection. Literature: Antiquitätenzeitung, Stuttgart, 1930, 24. Certificate: Prof. Julius Baum, Stuttgart (1958). J. Baum considers the present painting to be a work from Mostaert's maturity and dates it to the period immediately following the 1520s. Compared to earlier works by Mostaert, such as the seemingly old-fashioned Oultremont altarpiece in Brussels commissioned by the Haarlem-based assessor Albert van Adrichem, Baum recognizes an artistic advancement. He compares our painting to Mostaert's Adoration at the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum (Inv. 1674). Baum: "By renouncing late Gothic ornament and creased drapery, as well as owing to the design of the half-figures in the foreground, both paintings illustrate that medieval form has been entirely overcome." According to his vita published by Van Mander, Jan Mostaert was court painter to Governess Margaret of Austria in Brussels between 1503 and 1521. He was a highly talented and successful portraitist and also created numerous devotional pictures and altarpieces.