Master of Figor's Descent from the Cross

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A painter who worked in the north of the Netherlands at the end of the 15th century is known as the master of the Descent from the Cross . The artist, who was not known by name and was also first named as the Master of the Descent from the Cross in the Figdor Collection , received his emergency name from his painting, which was originally in the collection of Albert Figdor from Vienna and depicts the Descent from the Cross .

Loss of the Descent from the Cross

The image of the Descent from the Cross was probably created around 1490/1500 as part of a winged altar , which was probably removed from the church during the Reformation and divided. The painting entered the Figdor Collection at the end of the 19th century and when it was closed in 1930 it was auctioned by the Staatliche Museen in Berlin. Relocated at the end of the Second World War, the plant was lost in 1945 in the fire of the control tower of the flak bunker in Friedrichshain in Berlin. At this point in time the master's emergency name after this work had already been consolidated.

Martyrdom of Saint Lucia

Master of the Descent from the Cross: The Martyrdom of St. Lucia, Amsterdam, around 1500

The former other side of the Descent from the Cross shows the martyrdom of St. Lucia . The picture was probably separated in the 19th century and is now in the possession of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Because of the depiction of these saints, little known in the Netherlands in the Middle Ages and rarely honored with churches, it can be assumed that the Descent from the Cross and the image of the master of Figdor's Descent from the Cross were painted for the convent of St. Lucia in Amsterdam.

Because of the picture, the master was sometimes referred to as the master of Lucia-Marter or Luciameister ; a name that is rarely used in art history, as it can lead to confusion with other anonymous masters who also depict the subject of the Lucia Martyr in a major work.

The picture of Lucia by the master of Figdorf's Descent from the Cross is on loan today at the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam.

Style and Influences

The master of Figdor's Descent from the Cross is understood as the successor to Geertgen tot Sint Jans . Because of the proximity of his style to that of Geertgens, a major master of Dutch painting in the 15th century in Haarlem, the master was sometimes called pseudo-Geertgen even in the early years of art history . Even if the landscape depiction and the drapery are very close to Geertgen's painting style, the experts believe that the paintings of the master of Figdor's Descent from the Cross lack the artistic perfection of their execution. Due to the closeness to style, however, training in Haarlem is likely.

Teacher of Cornelisz van Oostsanen?

Among the successors of Geertgen tot Sint Jans, the master of Figdor's Descent from the Cross is considered to be a possible teacher Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanens . Stylistic comparisons led some art historians to suspect that the works attributed to the master could possibly be works by a young van Oostsanen. Both hypotheses are not necessarily fully verifiable, but show that the master of Figdor's Descent from the Cross was probably active in Amsterdam, Haarlem or the surrounding area. There is also the assumption that he could be identical to the master of the fountain of life , who is also not known by name .

literature

  • W. Valentiner: From the Dutch art. Berlin 1914
  • Max J. Friedländer : The Old Dutch Painting Vol. 5. Berlin 1927
  • Max J. Friedländer, Otto von Falke (Ed.): The Dr. Albert Figdor, Vienna (auction on June 11-13, 1930, Vienna), 1st part, 3rd volume The paintings. Vienna u. Berlin 1930
  • A. Châtelet: Les Primitif Hollandais. La Peinture Dans Les Pays-Bas Du Nord Au Xve Siecle. Friborg 1980
  • A. Châtelet: Early Dutch Painting. Painting in the northern Netherlands in the fifteenth century. New York 1981

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Descent from the Cross . In: Stiftung Deutsches Zentrum Kulturgutverluste, Lost Art Database Entry 2108 (accessed June 2010)
  2. ↑ Master of the Figdor Deposition . In: Art Encyclopedia. The Concise Grove Dictionary of Art. Oxford 2002, online edition, accessed June 2010
  3. ^ P. Wardle: Summaries. In: Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum, Vol. 46, No. 2/3 (1998), pp. 338-354
  4. ↑ HLM Defoer: De marteldood van de H. Lucia door de Meester van de Kruisafneming uit de Verzameling Figdor. In: Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum, 47, 2-3, 1999, pp. 264-274
  5. ↑ For example GC van Essen: Did Oprhic Influence On Etruscan Tomb Painting Exist . Dissertation, Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht, Amsterdam 1927, p. 36.
  6. ↑ C. Möller: Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen and Doen Pietersz. Studies of the collaboration between woodcutters and printers in Amsterdam in the early 16th century . Netherlands Studies 34, Münster, Waxmann 2005
  7. ↑ See as an example also W. Valentiner: From the Dutch art . Berlin 1914
  8. ↑ See also Max J. Friedländer: Geertgen tot S. Jans . In: Yearbook of the Royal Prussian Art Collections 24 (1903), pp. 62–70
personal data
SURNAME Master of Figor's Descent from the Cross
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Master of the Descent from the Cross, Figdor Collection
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch painter
DATE OF BIRTH before 1490
DATE OF DEATH after 1500