Catalogue entry
Franz Anton Maulbertsch 1724–1796
NG 6647
Allegory of the Continent of Asia
, 2024
Extracted from:
Susan Foister; with Rachel Billinge, Marika Spring and Lea Viehweger; and contributions
by Lorne Campbell and Allison Goudie, The German Paintings before 1800 (London: National Gallery Global and Yale University Press, 2024).
© The National Gallery
Oil on canvas, 42.9 × 48.1 cm
Provenance
The painting was first recorded and published in the 1997 Carloni exhibition held in Rancate, Switzerland, as from a Bavarian private collection.1 It was sold on 5 December 2008 at Hampel Fine Art Auctions, Munich, as lot 256 from a Bavarian private collection, separately identified as the Fröschl collection in Munich.2 It was exhibited again in Vienna in 2009–10 as from a private collection.3 It was bought from the dealer Ulrich Hofstätter, Vienna, in 2013.
Exhibitions
Rancate 1997 (21); Vienna 2009–10 (3).
Technical Notes
The painting is in fairly good condition; there are no major damages such as tears or large losses. In some areas the ground shows through the thin surface paint and there is some disruption due to the formation of metal soap agglomerates in the ground layer. There are also some small flake losses where the paint has cleaved from the ground. Some discreet retouching has been applied to reduce the effect of these damages.
The painting was lined and probably restored in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, which is probably when the original tacking edges were cut off. This lining has since been removed and the canvas, which now has a loose lining, has been strip‐lined with linen at all four edges.
The X‐radiograph and infrared reflectogram confirm the good condition of the painting and do not reveal any changes to the composition (figs 1, 7). From examination of the surface with a stereomicroscope there appears to be [page 781] [page 782] a red‐brown paint layer over the whole canvas applied as a ground, which seems to consist mostly of earth pigments, possibly some black, and some large agglomerates of bright opaque orange‐red pigment that is probably red lead since it seems to have reacted with the paint medium to form lead soap pustules. The ground is left exposed and used as the midtones in some areas, for example in the dromedary at the left edge. It is also visible where the paint is thinly applied such as in the greyish‐blue sky (fig. 5), painted with a mixture of white, black and probably a little Prussian blue. This appears to be the only blue pigment, used also for example mixed with white in the hat of the man in the background (fig. 2). The main yellow appears to be a yellow earth, perhaps in a mixture of pigments. The bright red strokes in the feather on the turban of the main male figure contain a mixture of vermilion and red lead (fig. 3), but there is also a thick translucent off‐white stroke that may be degraded red lead that has become lighter, losing most of its colour. There are also occasional touches of a red lake. The paint is mostly very sparingly or thinly applied (figs 4, 5), but some details are more thickly painted (as also seen in the X‐radiograph and infrared reflectogram), also exploiting the effects that can be achieved by blending of colours wet‐in‐wet (fig. 6).
X‐radiograph of NG 6647. © The National Gallery
Photomicrograph of the hat of the man in the background, painted with Prussian blue. © The National Gallery
Photomicrograph of the feather in the turban of the main male figure on the left, showing bright red strokes of vermilion mixed with red lead. © The National Gallery
Photomicrograph of the woman's face, showing sparing paint application. © The National Gallery
Photomicrograph of the sky where the brownish‐red ground is visible through the thin greyish‐blue paint. © The National Gallery
Photomicrograph of the red flower hanging above the fountain, painted wet in wet. © The National Gallery
Although no samples were taken, the paint medium appears to be oil, as suggested by the observation that metal soap agglomerates have formed by reaction with red lead.
Subject
At the centre of the composition, a brightly illuminated woman in a white turban decorated with a jewelled feather sits on the floor on a blue cushion; the turban has a projecting cone with a veil billowing behind. The upper part of her dress is white with bluish shadows and fastened with buttons, and a large swathe of white drapery extends over her skirt. [page 783] Her pointed golden slipper is visible under her pink skirts. In her left hand, she holds a banner with a golden crescent and golden star. The banner, with its reddish fringe, appears to take the form of the Ottoman or Mongolian horsehair standard or ‘tug’.4 In her right hand she holds an arrow. Above is the ghostly form of a celestial woman carrying a torch, representing Venus, in classical mythology the morning star; an allusion to the ‘Morgenland’, or the eastern world, may be intended.5 On the left stands a man in a turban adorned with a jewel to which a feather is attached, wearing a long white coat with red sleeves fastened with golden frogging and decorated with golden embroidery over blue and pink trousers; he wears brownish upwardly pointed shoes and carries a curved sword. To the right is the figure of a crouching man, seen from the back, who is pouring a brownish liquid – likely to be coffee rather than tea – into a white bowl and saucer.6 His hairstyle, the ‘oseledets’, closely shaved with a long lock of hair left on top towards the front in a manner characteristic of Ukrainian Zaporozhian Cossacks, might identify him as a captive or might otherwise be intended to allude to a stylised Turk’s head of the type found, for instance, in Hans von Aachen’s Allegory of the Capture of Raab Castle (fig. 8).7 A golden flagon on a tray is placed to the left of him. Behind this lies a sword with a handle and a long, curved guard. There are further shadowy figures in the background: on the far left is a man with a dromedary, while between the two main protagonists are three male figures, one evidently holding a flagpole with a star, the others wearing contrasting forms of turban. The scene is set in a garden with, on the right, a lion head fountain, on top of which stands a bowl of flowers. This background is reminiscent of those seen in French painting of the first half [page 784] of the eighteenth century (compare for example the National Gallery’s painting by Nicolas Lancret of about 1742, A Lady in a Garden having Coffee with Children, NG 6422), and may perhaps have been inspired by a print. On a ledge is a very large white turban decorated with a large jewel with a red stone and a feather, as well as a shield and a quiver of arrows, perhaps evoking the Roman fasces used as a symbol of power or victory.
Infrared reflectogram of NG 6647. © The National Gallery
Hans von Aachen, Allegory of the Recapture of Raab [Győr] Castle. Oil on parchment mounted on canvas, 34.6 × 42 cm. Budapest, Szépművészeti Museum. Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest. © The Museum of Fine Arts Budapest/Scala, Florence
Adriaen Collaert after Marten de Vos, Allegory of Asia (from the Four Continents), 1594. Engraving, 21 × 25.7 cm. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, RP‐P‐BI‐6061. © Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Maulbertsch’s subject is clearly Asia, the eastern lands, signified by the star and crescent (the symbols of the Ottoman empire), the tug, the dress and hairstyles of the protagonists, the dromedary and the pouring of coffee; the origins of coffee houses in Vienna were associated with the defeat of the Turks at the Battle of Vienna in 1683.8 The theme of Ottoman conquest was particularly relevant to Vienna, with its long history of resisting Turkish invasion, although by the middle of the eighteenth century many Turkish merchants were settled in Vienna, and European curiosity about the eastern world turned to the orientalism of decorative inspiration and the tales from the Arabian Nights.9
Such allegorical presentations of the eastern world were common in eighteenth‐century depictions in the context of the representation of the four continents, Asia, Europe, America and Africa. They were famously depicted by Tiepolo in his ceiling fresco at Würzburg completed in 1753, in which Asia is shown riding an elephant, but also by many other artists of the period, particularly as subjects for decorative painting. Maulbertsch’s painting is clearly related to the representational tradition which can be traced back to Cesare Ripa’s Iconologia and beyond: in the first illustrated edition of 1603 Asia is shown as a richly dressed woman standing in front of a seated camel or dromedary holding an incense burner in her left hand and a palm or plant in her right.10 The representation of four continents, with America in addition to Europe, Africa and Asia, was established in the later sixteenth century notably in designs by Marten de Vos for the triumphal entry to Antwerp of Archduke Ernst of Austria (1553–1595) in 1594, engraved by Adriaen Collaert (about 1560–1618) (fig. 9).11 In this image Asia is an exotically and richly dressed woman wearing loose trousers and a pointed, veiled headdress similar to that worn by Maulbertsch’s central figure, swinging an incense burner in her right hand and seated on a camel or dromedary. On the left in the background is a battle, presumably representing the conflict between Turks and Europeans, and on the right there are animals including a giraffe, a dromedary and elephants. Maulbertsch’s depiction can be seen as a development and elaboration of this imagery, with its themes of conquest, the presence of the dromedary and its central figure of a woman in oriental dress here represented with the standard rather than an incense burner.
The Function of NG 6647
It is possible that Maulbertsch’s painting was created as one of a suite of four oil sketches of the four continents, Europe, Asia, Africa and America, painted to be sold on the open market.12 It was Maulbertsch’s practice to make initial oil sketches for a number of his full‐scale ceiling and other decorative paintings. However, despite the freedom with which NG 6647 is painted, its confident, sophisticated composition suggests it was not made to express an initial idea but as a finished work.13
The sketch shows off Maulbertsch’s painterly powers to impressive effect. It is carefully composed and lit, the two main figures placed as though on a shallow stage set, with Venus appearing on a backdrop behind. It is full of wittily envisaged conjunctions and curves: the cone of the woman’s turban and her star‐ and crescent‐topped pole, the star appearing as though a celestial body in the sky; the graceful curves of the fountain echoed by the lunar shape of the retreating darkness behind which the illuminated Venus emerges; the long arc of the stream of hot coffee, set off by the curve of the shield above; and the snaking curve of the quiver strap, which is deliberately crossed by the flagpole. The curving darkness above is echoed by the sweeping shape made by the darkness [page 785] in the right foreground. At the same time Maulbertsch’s painting technique appears dazzlingly spontaneous, from the bravura brushwork defining the embroidered lower part of the man’s robe to the creamy depiction of the raspberry‐coloured and lighter pink skirt of the woman’s dress. The viewer is confronted by the fierce glance of the man on the left and the milder glance of his companion, both achieved with great economy of means. The eye is further caught by small, deliberately placed patches of light in the darkness on the left, by the gleam of copper and by the touches of white paint around the man with the camel.
Franz Anton Maulbertsch, The Academy with its Attributes at the Feet of Minerva, 1750. Oil on canvas, 72.5 × 91.5 cm. Vienna, Belvedere Museum. Oesterreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna
Attribution and Date
NG 6647 is not documented: Maulbertsch’s sketches are not listed in the early published catalogues of his works of 1771 and 1778.14 The painting was first published as a work by the artist in 1997.15 Comparisons may be drawn with Maulbertsch’s Academy prize‐winning painting of 1750, The Academy with its Attributes at the Feet of Minerva (fig. 10), in the drapery painting, the colouring and the dramatic lighting at certain points in the composition. However, further comparisons can be drawn with works generally agreed to be by Maulbertsch and datable to the earliest part of his career, from the late 1740s and early 1750s. Similar orientialist motifs occur in a number of paintings, such as Maulbertsch’s Joseph and his Brothers, datable to about 1750, which includes a dromedary.16 Also comparable are the figures of the three kings in the Adorations in Cluj‐Napoca, Romania and Opava.17 Eliezer and Rebecca in Budapest also includes dromedaries and shadowy background figures, as well as a large jug somewhat similar to that in NG 6647.18 The signed, very early Adoration of the Magi (1745/9, Friedrichshafen) uses a different style but the motifs of turbaned figures and elevated banners are similar.19 Parallels can also be found with the expressive application of paint in the small Juda and Thamar in the Pushkin Museum, dated to about 1750, and especially with the composition of Susanna before the Judges (Vienna, Belvedere), dated to about 1750–5, in which a similar lance is shown at an angle to the right and the figure of a slumped man lower right seems to parallel [page 786]that of the man bending to pour coffee in NG 6647.20 The disposition of figures and lighting in the Washing of the Feet of Saint Peter, dated to about 1750 (Munich, Bayerische Staatgemäldesammlungen), is also comparable.21 Most of these works depict religious subjects, but Maulbertsch also applied his distinctive and witty painting style to an early ceiling painting of about 1750–2, the Allegory of the Four Seasons in Schloss Kirchstetten.22 Some small oil sketches with secular subject matter have been associated with Maulbertsch at this period, which are readily comparable with NG 6647: a small scene of a music party with a vase of flowers was published by Garas and exhibited at Manchester in 1961, while an oil sketch, Pastoral Serenade, dated to about 1752, formerly in the collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art, shows two women serenading a man with the moon in the sky above, in the manner of Lancret, exhibiting a rococo sensibility similar to that also seen in NG 6647.23
Maulbertsch’s painting style is particularly distinctive in its freedom of brushwork: Kaufmann has noted how the Vienna academy competitions ‘seem to encourage production of freely made oil sketches’, and of an extremely free style of drawing with ink and wash influenced by Troger.24 Kaufmann has also drawn attention to Maulbertsch’s distinctive and conscious approach to harmonising colour and light.25 NG 6647 is composed around strong contrasts of darkness and points of light, using light to create a sense of three‐dimensional space in a manner which Maulbertsch employed from the beginning of his career.26 The comparisons with works from the late 1740s to the early 1750s make it legitimate to date NG 6647 to around 1750.27
Maulbertsch’s later works are more finely detailed and muted, from around 1760 often using grisaille.28 Monika Dachs‐Nickel has described how NG 6647 ‘plays the main role in revolutionizing our idea of Maulbertsch’s early sketch style. In this work Maulbertsch discloses his spontaneous wealth of invention, humor, painterly brilliance, and a dynamic, open sketch style’.29 Maulbertsch is seen here at the start of his career developing the northern European tradition of the oil sketch, as exemplified by Rubens, in the context of the French and Italian rococo influences at work in southern Germany and Austria. He shows off the wit and expressive command of colour and brushwork which would lead him justly to be described as the outstanding inheritor of Tiepolo’s legacy in the German‐speaking world.
Select Bibliography
Krückmann 1997, p. 116, no. 21, fig. 117; Dachs‐Nickel in Husslein‐Arco and Krapf 2009, p. 42, no. 3; Dachs‐Nickel 2011, fig. 28.
Notes
1 Krückmann 1997, p. 116, no. 21, fig. 117, as Franz Anton Maulpertsch [sic], Scene turca, 1760 circa, ‘Baviera, collezione privata’, unpublished. (Back to text.)
2 ‘… eine seltene privatsammlung bozzetti des 18. jahrhunderts darunter werke von giovanni battista Tiepolo’: private communication from the auctioneer to the Viennese dealer Ulrich Hofstätter, who acquired the painting. According to Hofstätter’s information it was one of a substantial collection of oil sketches by Italian and German painters of the eighteenth century, of which one, another work by Maulbertsch, was acquired in Vienna in 1976. (Back to text.)
3 Husslein‐Arco and Krapf 2009, pp. 42–3, no. 3. (Back to text.)
4 Haydn Williams kindly drew attention to this identification of the banner. (Back to text.)
5 In Hans von Aachen’s Allegory of the Recapture of Raab Castle (fig. 8, above), Diana with a crescent moon is seated on a cloud, and the approaching Juno covers the moonlight with a cloak. Peter in Geissler 1979, vol. 1, pp. 62–3 interprets the juxtaposition of Morgenland and Abendland as a symbol of Habsburg/Abendland victory. (Back to text.)
6 For coffee drinking in Vienna see Do Paço 2012 and for its role in diplomacy see Do Paço 2015, pp. 209–11. (Back to text.)
7 Albert Godycki kindly identified the hairstyle. While the hairstyle depicted in NG 6647 is that of the Zaporozhian Cossacks (depicted for instance in Repin’s Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks of 1891 in the Russian State Museum, Saint Petersburg (inv. 4005), contemporary representations appear to have employed the hairstyle for stylised renderings of the ‘Turk’s Head’. The type in a gruesome variation (a raven is clawing at the severed head’s eyes) is included in the coat of arms of the von Schwarzenberg family, who were awarded the signet for their involvement in the recapture of the Raab fortress in Hungary from the Turks in 1598 (see Spatzenegger 1982, p. 409). The figure representing the defeated Turks in von Aachen’s drawing (and subsequent painting) Allegory of the Capture of Raab Castle (Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, inv. KdZ 4722) wears the same hairstyle; see Peter in Geissler 1979, vol. 1, pp. 62–3, no. B17. The iconography of the ‘Turk’s Head’ is discussed in Brummett 2015, pp. 189, 209 and the imagery of the Turk in the West in, for example, Silver 2011. (Back to text.)
8 Do Paço 2012 discusses the myth of the opening of the first coffee house in Vienna, associated with the defeat of the Turks in 1683. (Back to text.)
9 See Do Paço 2015, esp. pp. 238–9, 258–262 for the Turks in Vienna, coffee and the appropriation of the Orient in the city at this period. (Back to text.)
10 Ripa 1603 (see erdteilallegorien.univie.ac.at/bilder/iconologia-von-cesare-ripa/ripa-iconologia-1603-2); Poeschel 1985. Husslein‐Arco and Krapf 2009, p. 42, comments: ‘this scene is as far from the specifications of Ripa’s Iconologia as imaginable; none of the figures can be addressed as actual personification of Asia’. (Back to text.)
11 New Hollstein Dutch and Flemish Dutch and Flemish 1315. See also Ortelius, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, Antwerp 1570, in which Asia is represented in bejewelled dress. (Back to text.)
12 Dachs‐Nickel in Husslein‐Arco and Krapf 2009, p. 42. (Back to text.)
13 On the identification of sketches by Maulbertsch, see ibid. , esp. pp. 96–7. (Back to text.)
14 Ibid. , p. 94. (Back to text.)
15 Krückmann 1997, p. 116, no. 21, fig. 117. (Back to text.)
16 Szépművészéti Museum, Budapest, inv. 66.13. For discussion of the ‘Turkish fashions’ here and in NG 6647, see Dachs‐Nickel 2011. (Back to text.)
17 Dachs‐Nickel in Husslein‐Arco and Krapf 2009, p. 42, no. 3. For the Cluj painting, see ibid. and Garas 1960, no. 10, p. 197 and for that in Opava, ibid. , no. 2, p. 197. (Back to text.)
18 Inv. 66.12; see also the smaller composition of the same subject in Garas 1960, no. 54, p. 201. (Back to text.)
19 Dachs‐Nickel in Husslein‐Arco and Krapf 2009, p. 94, fig. 2. (Back to text.)
Detail from NG 6647. © The National Gallery
20 Pushkin Museum, inv. 8528, Husslein‐Arco and Krapf 2009, pp. 36–9, no. 1, illustration on p. 38; and for the Belvedere Susanna (inv. 3224), see ibid. , pp. 48–9, no. 6. (Back to text.)
21 Ibid. , p. 96, fig. 4, 50 × 64.8 cm. (Back to text.)
22 Ibid. , p. 39. See also the drawing of Flora in the Fogg Harvard Art Museums, fig. 51 in Garas 1960, p. 199, no. 26. (Back to text.)
23 For the Music Party see Garas 1960, p. 30, no. 44. The painting is slightly smaller than NG 6647. It was exhibited in Manchester in 1961 (see Grossmann 1961), pp. 76–7) as no. 22, collection of F.K. Pächt. For the Pastoral Serenade, see Garas 1960, p. 30, no. 46 and pp. 200–1. The painting has since reappeared on the art market. Cannon‐Brookes 1977, p. 21, in a review of the Salzburg and Budapest exhibitions, challenged the attribution of these sketches. (Back to text.)
24 Kaufmann in Husslein‐Arco and Krapf 2009, pp. 24–5, esp. p. 24. For Troger, see biography, p. 779, above. (Back to text.)
25 Kaufmann in Heck 2005, pp. 207–16, esp. p. 208. (Back to text.)
26 See Dachs‐Nickel in Husslein‐Arco and Krapf 2009, p. 97. (Back to text.)
27 Ibid. (Back to text.)
28 Ibid. ; for an example see The Glorification of the Royal Hungarian Saints, about 1772–3, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv, 2007.8, grisaille sketch for the Hungarian Cathedral Basilica of Győr (Raab). (Back to text.)
29 Ibid. , p. 96. (Back to text.)
List of references cited
- Baum et al. 2014
- Baum, Katja von, et al., Let the Material Talk: Technology of Late‐medieval Cologne Panel Painting, London 2014
- Brummett 2015
- Brummett, Palmira, Mapping the Ottomans: Sovereignty, Territory, and Identity in the Early Modern Mediterranean, New York 2015
- Campbell 1998
- Campbell, Lorne, National Gallery Catalogues: The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Schools, London 1998
- Campbell 2014a
- Campbell, Lorne, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth‐Century Netherlandish Paintings with French Paintings before 1600, London 2014
- Cannon‐Brookes 1977
- Cannon‐Brookes, Peter, ‘The oil paintings of Franz Anton Maulbertsch in the light of the 1974 exhibitions’, Burlington Magazine, January 1977, 119, no. 886, 18–31
- Coppa, Krückmann and Pescarmona 1997
- Coppa, Simonetta, Peter O. Krückmann and Daniele Pescarmona, eds, Carlo Innocenzo Carloni, 1686/87-1775: dipinti e bozzetti (exh. cat. Pinacoteca Züst, Rancate, and Galleria civica, Campione d'Italia, 14 September-30 November 1997), Milan 1997
- Dachs‐Nickel 2011
- Dachs‐Nickel, Monika, ‘Altbekanntes neu entdeckt: Josef wird von seinen Brüdern entkleidet und die “Opferung Isaaks”. Zwei alttestamentarische Szenen und ihre Stellung im reifen Frühwerk des Franz Anton Maulbertsch’, in Maulbertsch! Junger Meister – Altes Testament, ed. W. Huber, St Pölten 2011, 13–33
- Do Paço 2012
- Do Paço, David, ‘Comment le café devint viennois: Métissage et cosmopolitisme urbain dans l’Europe du xviiie siècle’, Hypothèses, 2012, 15, 343–53
- Do Paço 2015
- Do Paço, David, L’Orient à Vienne au dix‐huitième siècle, Oxford University Studies in the the Enlightenment, Oxford 2015
- Garas 1960
- Garas, Klára, Franz Anton Maulbertsch 1724–1796, Vienna 1960
- Geissler 1979
- Geissler, H., ed., Zeichnung in Deutschland. Deutsche Zeichner 1540–1640 (exh. cat., Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart), 2 vols, Stuttgart 1979
- Grossmann 1961
- Grossmann, Fritz, German Art 1400–1800 from Collections in Great Britain (exh. cat., Manchester City Art Gallery), Manchester 1961
- Heck 2005
- Heck, Michèle‐Caroline, ed., Le Rubénisme en Europe aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, Turnhout 2005
- Herring 2019
- Herring, Sarah, National Gallery Catalogues: The Nineteenth‐Century French Paintings, Volume I, The Barbizon School, London 2019
- Husslein‐Arco and Krapf 2009
- Husslein‐Arco, Agnes and Michael Krapf, eds, Franz Anton Maulbertsch: Ein Mann von Genie / A Man of Genius (exh. cat., Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna), Vienna 2009
- Levey 1959
- Levey, Michael, National Gallery Catalogues: The German School, London 1959
- National Gallery Report
- National Gallery, The National Gallery Report: Trafalgar Square, London [various dates]
- New Hollstein 1993–
- The New Hollstein Dutch and Flemish Etchings Engravings and Woodcuts, 1450–1700, Rotterdam and Ouderkerk aan den Ijssel 1993–[ongoing]
- Ortelius 1570
- Ortelius, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, Antwerp 1570
- Poeschel 1985
- Poeschel, Sabine, Studien zur Ikonographie der Erdteile in der Kunst des 16.–18. Jahrhunderts, Munich 1985
- Ripa 1603
- Ripa, Cesare, ed., Iconologia, https://erdteilallegorien.univie.ac.at/bilder/iconologia-von-cesare-ripa/ripa-iconologia-1603-2, 1603
- Silver 2011
- Silver, Larry, ‘East is east: images of the Turkish nemesis in the Hapsburg world’, in The Turk and Islam in the Western Eye 1450–1750: Visual Imagery before Orientalism, ed. J. Harper, London 2011
- Spatzenegger 1982
- Spatzenegger, Hans, ‘Die Wappen der Salzburger Erzbischöfe seit der Säkularisation’, Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für Salzburger Landeskunde, 1982, 122, 403–20
List of exhibitions cited
- Rancate 1997
- Rancate, Pinacoteca Züst, Carlo Innocenzo Carloni, 1686/87–1775: dipinti e bozzetti, 1997
- Vienna 2009–10
- Vienna, Belvedere Museum, Franz Anton Maulbertsch: A Man of Genius, 2009–10
The Scope and Organisation of the Catalogue
These volumes represent the third catalogue of the National Gallery’s early northern European paintings, following those of fifteenth‐century early Netherlandish paintings and sixteenth‐century Netherlandish and French paintings by Lorne Campbell published in 1998 and 2014 respectively. When the present series of National Gallery catalogues was established it was agreed that there might be variations between the approach and organisation of one catalogue and another, depending on the type of paintings involved. Hence although broad categories of information such as provenance were standard inclusions they occur in different places in different catalogues. As it seemed reasonable for the catalogues concerning early Northern paintings to take similar approaches to the presentation of information which had much in common, I have as far as possible followed the approach of Lorne Campbell in his catalogues of early Netherlandish and French paintings. One important exception occurs in the ordering of works by the same painter: I have followed more recent cataloguing practice where the order is chronological rather than by National Gallery inventory number.
During the period in which these catalogues of early Netherlandish and German paintings have been prepared it has been agreed that a few paintings should move from one catalogue to the other. In the 1959 National Gallery catalogue of German paintings by Michael Levey the Virgin and Child in a Landscape (NG 2157), originally part of the Krüger collection, was attributed to an unknown German artist, but in Lorne Campbell’s 2014 volume it is now catalogued as Netherlandish. Conversely, entries on two paintings originally believed to be Netherlandish, Edzard the Great (NG 2209) and The Entombment after Schongauer (NG 1151), were originally compiled by Lorne Campbell for the sixteenth‐century Netherlandish catalogue, but after concluding they were instead of German origin he kindly allowed them to be published in the present volumes. Two painters with Netherlandish origins or Netherlandish connections are included in this catalogue as German. In the case of the painter known as the Master of the Saint Bartholomew Altarpiece there is evidence within the paintings (see his biography, p. 687) that the artist had strong connections to Utrecht in the northern Netherlands as well as clearly having patrons in Cologne. However, this publication continues the Gallery’s decision in the 1959 catalogue by Michael Levey to place the Master within German painting, as is conventional in other German collections. Similarly, the painting by Netherlandish‐born Bartholomaeus Spranger which was acquired some time after the publication of the 1959 catalogue is presented here as German, since Spranger spent his entire career in Germany and Prague. As explained in the essay on the history of the collection (pp. 17–37), the scope of the paintings catalogued here extends to the German‐speaking lands, and hence includes works made in what is now Austria, such as those by Michael Pacher and by two anonymous artists. The chronological span of this catalogue extends to 1800 as it has always been envisaged that the National Gallery’s nineteenth and early twentieth‐century paintings, from whatever part of Europe, will be catalogued separately as a whole; the first of these volumes, The Barbizon School by Sarah Herring, was published in 2019. One work discussed in Levey’s 1959 catalogue does not appear here: the drawing by Mengs which was transferred to the British Museum in 1994. It should be noted that entries on the paintings by Lucas Cranach the Elder were originally published in 2015 on the Gallery’s website; they have been updated as necessary and added to them is the Gallery’s most recent German acquisition, the small Venus and Cupid (NG 6680).
The catalogue is organised alphabetically by name of artist, or if the name is unknown, by geographical region, in some cases as unspecific as German, in others North or South German, with suggestions in the entry as to a more precise geographical origin. Many of the artists included here have not been securely identified with documented painters and are therefore called only by their traditional art‐historical nomenclature as ‘Master of’, although attempts to identify them with documented artists are discussed as appropriate. The relevant catalogue entries present important new information concerning the identification of the Master of Cappenberg as Jan Baegert: these entries are therefore presented under the latter name. However in the case of the Master of Liesborn the putative identification of the artist as Johann von Soest – although persuasive – does not rest on such secure grounds; the paintings discussed in these entries are therefore presented as by the Master of Liesborn, and the possible identification of the artist is discussed in the accompanying biography.
Entries relating to a single artist are arranged chronologically. Paintings which are signed or can be securely associated with the artist are grouped in chronological order before those which can be attributed to the artist with assistance from the workshop or to the artist’s workshop alone. Finally come paintings which appear to be the work of a painter outside the workshop practising in the style of the artist, and then paintings which are copies of works by the artist. In a very few cases I have expressed room for doubt concerning an attribution by the use of ‘Probably by’; I have not used ‘Attributed to’ or ‘Ascribed to’, as these phrases appear to relate to the past opinions of others rather than those of the catalogue author.
[page 12]Where relevant, each entry is preceded by a short biography. Here I have endeavoured to draw attention to the principal documents concerning the artist’s life and works, on which arguments for the dating and attribution of particular paintings may be based, as well as drawing attention to works which are signed, signed and dated, or otherwise documented. The biographies include footnotes so that the reader may fairly readily access the sources for the documents; I have made efforts to include the most recent publications as well as the most accurate.
There are no changes to titles used in the 1959 catalogue and in subsequent National Gallery publications other than in the very few cases where new information has made this essential.
Each entry is preceded by information on support, medium, sizes of support and painted surface (where different), presented according to the latest National Gallery protocols. More on the ways in which this information has been obtained and presented is available in the Note on the Technical Examination of the Paintings (p. 13).
If a work bears a date this is specified, but there has been no attempt in the headmatter to provide a speculative date or range of dates: questions of dating are addressed at the end of each entry. Any additional material or clarification concerning information in the headmatter is addressed in the Technical Notes in each entry.
Although in most cases paintings have been cleaned since the 1959 catalogue this has not always resulted in inscriptions being clarified, and those of the 1959 catalogue are still in most cases the best guide. However in one case, the portrait by Bartholomeus Bruyn (NG 2605), an entire damaged inscription was painted over and has now been revealed. Inscriptions present on the reverses of the paintings are described in the entry’s Technical Notes.
Information on provenance follows the headmatter: this is frequently vital for the understanding of arguments concerning the status of the work, particularly where it was originally in an ecclesiastical setting. In the case of some provenances these are presented in a shorter form, but where it has been necessary to give explanations and alternatives these are in a fuller format. In the case of one work, Holbein’s Christina of Denmark, a full provenance is given but an Appendix to the catalogue entry gives a narrative of the painting’s acquisition in 1909, which has received much attention, so the facts are usefully gathered here. I have attempted whenever possible to provide the life dates of those owners mentioned in the provenance and very brief descriptions of their occupations.
Lists of related works include full details wherever possible, including prints and drawings. The list of exhibitions also includes long‐term loans. Each entry ends with a brief select bibliography which includes references to the 1959 Levey catalogue, references to the National Gallery Annual Review for paintings acquired after 1959 as well as references to noteworthy discussion of the paintings in significant monographs and exhibition catalogues.
Full technical notes are included on each painting: the methodology for the examination of the paintings is set out in the note on pp. 13–14. Information on the conservation history of each painting before its entry into the Gallery’s collection is included where available, along with that on significant conservation treatments by the Gallery. Where the painting’s frame is integral or original this is discussed in these notes, but I have not sought to give information on frames which replaced the original other than in the exceptional cases where this might throw light on the painting’s history. Infrared reflectograms and X‐radiographs of each painting are included wherever possible, except when the treatment or condition of the painting – for example backing with balsawood – means that these images do not yield any useful information.
I have endeavoured to ensure that the information presented in each catalogue entry is clearly presented and accessible to non‐specialist readers. The entries make use of headings which are intended to assist the reader to locate specific information and are organised as follows. Each entry starts with an account of what can be seen and of the subject matter. Excellent zooming images are available on the Gallery’s website in addition to the photographs and photomicrographs published here. However, I have aimed to clarify and answer questions of subject and action that might remain – particularly in relation to details that might seem obscure or be missed, for example the pilgrim hat badges worn in the Master of Saint Ursula’s painting of Saint Lawrence (NG 3665) or the parrot’s head on the sword in Liss’s Judith and Holofernes (NG 4597). The most extensive descriptions belong to the entry on Holbein’s ‘Ambassadors’ (NG 1314) where any attempt to elucidate the painting must rely on these being as precise as possible. There follows an analysis of the function of the works, relating it where possible to what is known of its origins in Provenance.
Finally, attribution and date are discussed. Where a painting is not signed reference is made to stylistic similarities to works which are documented or otherwise securely associated with the artist. In the earlier part of the period current opinion concerning the operation of workshops (discussed in the essay, pp. 39–59) suggests a degree of collaboration between workshops as well as a grouping of paintings under the name of an artist which does not necessarily indicate the painter’s individual involvement. These issues are discussed in the entry. In the matter of dating, apart from biographical information, in a number of cases discussions can be based on interpretation of dendrochronological data. In some cases dating is still speculative and can only be based on stylistic criteria. Captions to images only include dates which are recorded or documented. New attributions for a number of the paintings are listed in the table on p. 973.
A Note on the Technical Examination of the Paintings
The technical notes preceding the main part of each entry form the basis of understanding physical aspects of each work, including not only processes of making but also conservation history. Starting with the initial phase of the cataloguing programme in 1991, every painting was brought to the conservation studios and examined in the same ways as for the other northern European paintings catalogues. The paintings were carefully measured, the supports were examined, the surface was studied with a stereomicroscope to provide observations on technique and materials and photomicrographs were made. Observations built on existing records of conservation treatments and earlier examinations, including X‐radiographs, infrared and other technical imaging, as well as reports on paint sample analysis, all of which were reviewed. Further imaging was then carried out – including infrared reflectography – and selected paint samples were taken to answer specific questions that had arisen about layer structures, pigments and paint binding media. Existing paint samples were re‐examined at the same time.
In the period of time that has elapsed since the initial examinations in the early 1990s the technology available has advanced considerably. Wherever possible the paintings have been re‐examined to take advantage of new methods to improve imaging and analyses and to address unanswered questions. Some paintings have been treated in the Conservation Department in the intervening period, so have been revisited, and others have been part of other projects that have generated new research. In bringing this catalogue to completion this more recent work has been incorporated wherever appropriate. In addition, new high‐resolution colour images have been made of almost every work, existing X‐radiography plates have been digitised and mosaiced to the latest standards, new digital infrared images and digital photomicrographs have been made. The most recent X‐radiographs have been made with a new direct digital system, used for a small number of works.1 In most cases, the effect of stretcher bars and cradles on the image has been digitally reduced through further processing to make the images clearer. For one painting (NG 3662), macro X‐ray fluorescence scanning (MA‐XRF) was carried out.2
The measurements given at the head of each catalogue entry are almost always those of the original support, including original integral frame where relevant, with a few works where non‐original additions are included in the sizes given because they are painted to extend the composition; unpainted non‐original additions are instead described in the text. Measurements of the painted surface are also given where they are different to the support size. The supports were carefully examined to describe their construction and any evidence of alterations or trimming – especially important for panels that are from deconstructed altarpieces. Dendrochronological analysis was carried out by Peter Klein, who was also responsible for most of the wood identifications. The full results are in the reports kept on file; in the entry only the youngest heartwood ring is given, followed by an earliest creation date and a plausible creation date based on the current statistical assumptions used for sapwood and storage time.3 Any inscriptions, seals, numbers or other significant marks on the reverse were noted. The edges of the painting were described and studied to understand whether there was evidence that a work originally had an engaged or integral frame, and also to search for any surviving traces of paint with which the frame may have been decorated.
The more recent infrared examinations have been carried out using one of three cameras with digital sensors based on indium‐gallium‐arsenide (InGaAs).4 For paint samples, the preparatory layers, pigment mixtures and layer structures were examined by optical microscopy and analysis was undertaken by energy dispersive X‐ray analysis in the scanning electron microscope (SEM‐EDX), X‐ray powder diffraction and attenuated total reflectance – Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopic imaging (ATR‐FTIR). The dyestuffs in red lake pigments were studied with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) where there was sufficient sample, and also by microspectrophotometry. Paint binding media were identified by Gas Chromatography (GC), Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (GC–MS) and the complementary technique of FTIR microscopy in transmission mode.
The conservation history as far as it is known is summarised briefly in the technical notes, incorporated with a short comment on condition, concentrating on significant paint losses, interventions or changes on ageing that most affect the current appearance and are important in understanding the artist’s original intention. The information then given about support, preparation layers, underdrawing, pigments and media is gained from an integrated interpretation of the results from the various methods of examination. Particular attention is given to changes in the composition during underdrawing and painting as they relate closely to the creative processes of the artists, and also to observations that serve to inform the description given in the main body of the entry. In almost every case the infrared images are illustrated, as are the X‐radiographs, and a significant number of the photomicrographs are also included; the choice has been made to not include any other technical images or detailed results, which can all be found in reports in the Conservation and Scientific department files.
[page [14]]Notes
1 The XRis Dx‐80‐G3 was installed at the National Gallery in September 2021. This high resolution purpose‐built direct digital X‐radiography system was designed for imaging paintings and has a micro‐focus x‐ray tube and an area detector on a moving gantry that scans over the painting. The areas captured are then mosaiced to produce the final image. (Back to text.)
2 Macro‐XRF scanning was carried out with a Bruker M6 JETSTREAM macro‐XRF scanner (with a 60 mm2 XFlash® silicon drift X‐ray detector) on six areas of the painting and frame mainly to investigate the metal leaf composition. The data was examined and processed using both the Bruker M6 JETSTREAM software and DataMuncher/PyMCA in an attempt to obtain element maps that were as representative as possible. (Back to text.)
3 For the methodology see the contribution by Katja von Baum and Peter Klein in Baum 2014, pp. 21–7. (Back to text.)
4 Infrared reflectography was initially carried out using a Hamamatsu C2400 camera with an N2606 series infrared vidicon tube. The three digital infrared systems, which all use indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) sensors, are: SIRIS (Scanning InfraRed Imaging System), which uses an indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) array sensor, developed at the National Gallery in 2005 and in use until 2008; OSIRIS, which was in regular use from 2008; and Apollo which has been the main camera in use since 2019. For further details about OSIRIS and Apollo see www.opusinstruments.com/cameras. (Back to text.)
Hans Holbein the Younger, ‘The Ambassadors’ (NG 1314), detail (© The National Gallery, London)
The German‐speaking lands and neighbouring regions, showing places mentioned in the text. Artwork: Martin Lubikowski, ML Design
About this version
Version 2, generated from files SF_2024__16.xml dated 12/03/2025 and database__16.xml dated 12/03/2025 using stylesheet 16_teiToHtml_externalDb.xsl dated 03/01/2025. Document created from press‐ready PDF document and existing ‘taster’ HTML pages; structural mark-up applied to skeleton document in full; ‘taster’ entries for NG1925, NG3922 and NG6344, and print entries for NG705, NG706, NG722, NG1014, NG1314, NG2475, NG4597, NG5786, NG6463, NG6470, NG6540, NG6550, NG6563, NG6568 and NG6647, prepared for publication; ‘taster’ entry for NG6344 and print entries for NG705, NG706, NG722, NG1014, NG1314, NG2475, NG4597, NG5786, NG6463, NG6470, NG6540, NG6550, NG6563, NG6568 and NG6647 proofread and corrected.
Cite this entry
- Permalink (this version)
- https://data.ng.ac.uk/0ED4-000B-0000-0000
- Permalink (latest version)
- https://data.ng.ac.uk/0DTV-000B-0000-0000
- Chicago style
- Foister, Susan. “NG 6647, Allegory of the Continent of Asia”. 2024, online version 2, March 13, 2025. https://data.ng.ac.uk/0ED4-000B-0000-0000.
- Harvard style
- Foister, Susan (2024) NG 6647, Allegory of the Continent of Asia. Online version 2, London: National Gallery, 2025. Available at: https://data.ng.ac.uk/0ED4-000B-0000-0000 (Accessed: 20 March 2025).
- MHRA style
- Foister, Susan, NG 6647, Allegory of the Continent of Asia (National Gallery, 2024; online version 2, 2025) <https://data.ng.ac.uk/0ED4-000B-0000-0000> [accessed: 20 March 2025]