Lot 16: Studio of Gerard David (Oudewater 1440/70-1523 Bruges)

Studio of Gerard David (Oudewater 1440/70-1523 Bruges) The Baptism of Christ, Saint John the Baptist preaching in a wooded glen beyond oil on panel 31.7 x 25.5 cm.

31.7 x 25.5 cm.

Bruges, Stedelijk Museum, Gerard David, 18 June - 21 August 1949, p. 52, no. 35, as Adriaen Isenbrant and dated to c. 1530. London, Wildenstein Gallery, Gerard David and his followers, 1949, p. 16, no. 22, as Adriaen Isenbrant and dated to c. 1530. Bruges, Stedelijk Museum, Gerard David, 1953, no. 35, as Adriaen Isenbrant and dated to c. 1530. Laren, Singer Museum, Nederlandse primitieven uit Nederlands particulier bezit, 1 July - 10 September 1961, p. 13, no. 45, plate 17, as Adriaen Isenbrant. Amsterdam, Kunsthandel P. de Boer, Nederland water/land : de relatie tussen land en water in de Nederlandse schilderkunst van 1500 tot nu, 13 January - 19 February 1972, no. 22, as Adriaen Isenbrant.

J.G. van Gelder, 'The Gerard David Exhibition at Bruges' in The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 91, 1949, pp. 253-4, fig. 19, as Adriaen Isenbrant.

with Harris, London, by 1920, as Adriaen Isenbrant. with Leo Blumenreich (1884-1932), Berlin, as Adriaen Isenbrant. with Colnaghi, London by 1947-49, as Adriaen Isenbrant. with Thomas Agnew, London, by 1953, as Adriaen Isenbrant. with P. de Boer, Amsterdam, by 1959, as Adriaen Isenbrant. Private collection, The Netherlands, by 1961, as Adriaen Isenbrant.

Both the subject and compositional parts of the present lot recall Gerard David's altarpiece The Baptism of Christ, which was ordered by the Bruges treasurer Jan de Trompes in 1502 (now in the Groeningemuseum, Bruges). Also, The Garden of Gethsemane in the Museum of Fine arts, Strasbourg, by Gerard David (see: Peinture flamande et hollandaise XVè-XVIIIè siècle: Collection du Musée des Beaux-Arts, Strasbourg, 2009, pp. 27-28, no. 6) shows strong similarities to the present work. This lot is accompanied with a copy of a certificate by Prof. dr. Peter Klein, who recently researched the panel. His dendrochronological report states the year of 1508 as the earliest likely date of use for the panel.