Master of Delft, 'Christ presented to the People: Left Hand Panel', about 1510
About the work
Overview
This is the left wing of a triptych (a painting in three parts) made for a convent near Delft in around 1510. The other panels, showing various episodes of the Crucifixion, are also in the National Gallery’s collection.
Here we see Christ, his hands bound and the crown of thorns on his head, being led out after his trial: he is to be crucified. A motley crowd of soldiers prepares the Cross, watched by a weeping woman and her children. In the background, two criminals described as thieves have been stripped and bound – they are to be executed alongside Christ at Calvary.
On the back of the panel are the Virgin and Child and Saint Augustine of Hippo, painted to look like stone statues set in a shared niche. They would have been visible when the shutters were closed.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Christ presented to the People: Left Hand Panel
- Artist
- Master of Delft
- Artist dates
- active early 16th century
- Part of the group
- Triptych: Scenes from the Passion of Christ
- Date made
- about 1510
- Medium and support
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 102.2 × 49.3 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Presented by Earl Brownlow, 1913
- Inventory number
- NG2922.2
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Previous owners
- Frame
- 20th-century Replica Frame
Provenance
What was almost certainly the same triptych was by 1846 in the collection of John Rushout (1770–1859), 2nd Baron Northwick, at Thirlestane House, Cheltenham. No. 436 of the 1846 catalogue and no. 474 in the 1853 and 1854 catalogues, it was lot 83 in the Northwick sale there (Phillips) on 26 July 1859, when it was described as ‘MARTIN SCHOEN. A Triptique representing the Crucifixion, Christ leaving the Judgment Hall, and the Taking down from the Cross … In a mahogany case, the outer door enriched with figures of Saints en grisaille’. It was bought by Colnaghi.
In 1913 it was stated that NG 2922 had been ‘purchased by Earl Brownlow in London about 1860’. When it was exhibited in 1893, it was attributed to Schongauer. Adelbert Wellington Brownlow Cust (1844–1921), who succeeded his brother as 3rd Earl Brownlow in 1867, kept the triptych at Ashridge in Kent and presented it to the Gallery in 1913.
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Lorne Campbell, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Schools’, London 1998; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
-
1945Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: Early Netherlandish School, London 1945
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1955Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: Early Netherlandish School, 2nd edn (revised), London 1955
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1987Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Early Netherlandish School, 3rd edn, London 1987
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1998Campbell, Lorne, National Gallery Catalogues: The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Paintings, London 1998
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
Frame
This is a replica frame, made at the Gallery in 1975. Crafted from oak, it was inspired by the frame for a sixteenth-century Flemish-style triptych. Decorative hinges from a previous nineteenth-century frame were reused to connect the double-sided panels.
The frame was first shown with its natural colour. In 1999 the frame was stained, and the sill and inner moulding were gilded.
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
Images
About the group: Triptych: Scenes from the Passion of Christ
Overview
The story of the Passion (Christ’s torture and crucifixion) unfolds across three crowded panels. On the left, Christ is led out from his trial; in the centre he has been crucified; to the right, his dead body is taken down from the Cross.
The sacred events seem to be taking place near the city of Delft: we can see the tower of its New Church in the background of the centre panel. The triptych (a painting made of three parts) was probably made for the convent of Koningsveld, just outside Delft. The man wearing a white habit and kneeling at the front of the centre panel is likely to be Herman van Rossum, provost of Koningsveld, who may have commissioned the triptych for the high altar in around 1510.
Works in the group
