Right Wing of an Altarpiece with the Israelites Gathering Manna

anonymous, c. 1510 - c. 1520

As in the left wing of this altarpiece, food plays a central role in the right wing. Moses looks on as the starving Israelites gather the manna (heavenly bread) that God rained down on them during their journey through the desert to the Promised Land. Both Old Testament stories were sometimes interpreted as foreshadowing the Last Supper, which was likely the scene on the triptych’s lost centre panel.

  • Artwork typepainting, zijpaneel
  • Object numberSK-A-867
  • Dimensionssight size: height 110.7 cm x width 69.5 cm, frame: height 113.5 cm x width 82.5 cm x thickness 4 cm, support: height 102 cm x width 71.2 cm
  • Physical characteristicsoil on panel

anonymous

Right Wing of an Altarpiece with the Gathering of Manna (inner wing) and Ecclesia (outer wing)

Antwerp, Low Countries, c. 1510 - c. 1520

Technical notes

The support consists of three vertically grained oak planks (23.8, 25.5 and 21.6 cm), approx. 0.3-0.7 cm thick. The panel is fixed in its current 19th-century frame in such a manner as to render dendrochronology impossible. Both sides of the support are painted. The thick off-white ground is visible through small cracks in the paint layer and along the edges, and was applied when the panel was in the original frame, as there is a barbe and unpainted edges of 0.6-0.7 cm on all sides (painted surface: approx. 101.3 x 69.6 cm) on both the front and reverse of the panel. Infrared reflectography revealed a sketchy underdrawing in a dry medium in the faces, bodies and drapery folds on both sides of the panel. Parallel hatching was used to indicate shadows. In the light areas the underdrawing can be seen with the naked eye. Infrared reflectography also revealed colour notations in the yellow collar (‘gel’) and white garment (‘pv’) of the man kneeling in the foreground. The smoothly applied paint was built up systematically, with medium tones covered by darker glazes in shadow areas and by lighter tones in lighter areas. There are quite a few 'pentimenti', for example in the mountains, the handles of the two baskets and the head of the boy in the foreground. In the grisaille on the reverse the paint layers were built up in a similar fashion, only less elaborately.

Scientific examination and reports

  • condition report: Heemstra (Mauritshuis) , G. van, Mauritshuis, 18 november 1996
  • infrared reflectography: J.R.J. van Asperen de Boer, RKD, AB 1493: 25-37; AB 1494: 1-36A; AB 1495: 1-37; AB 1496: 1-19, 16 augustus 1993
  • paint samples: J.R.J. van Asperen de Boer, Mauritshuis, A 372/1 - A 372/4, 23 september 1993
  • condition report: I. Verslype, RMA, 7 november 2005
  • infrared reflectography: M. Wolters, RKD, 7 november 2005

Condition

Fair. There are deep scratches, which extend into the white ground, in the faces on both sides of the panel and in the host, chalice and hands on the reverse. The painting is abraded, with losses throughout. On the front of the panel there is raised paint in the reds. The losses at the back have not been filled in. The varnish is discoloured.

Conservation

  • W.A. Hopman, 1887: paint layers on the reverse consolidated
  • Pottasch (Mauritshuis) , C., 1992: paint layer consolidated
  • Heemstra (Mauritshuis) , G., november 1996 - februari 1997: Diepe krassen aangebracht tijdens de beeldenstorm aan de achterzijde werden slechts gedeeltelijk geretoucheerd vanwege hun historische waarde. De voorzijde werd volledig geretoucheerd.

Provenance

…; ? property of the Maria Magdalenakerk (Church of St Mary Magdalen), Goes; transferred with SK-A-867 to the Heilige Geest/Holy Spirit Hospital (the former Convent of St Agnes), Goes, 1578-1875;1Dekker 2002, pp. 453-54. …; sale, J.P.C. Baron van Reede van ter Aa en Aasten et al., Amsterdam (C.F. Roos and C.F. Roos Jr), 16 December 1875, nos. 36A and 36B, as Lucas van Leyden (‘A. Un chevalier suivi de ses guerriers, agenouillé devant un évêque qui lui présente une relique. Sur le revers une statue représentant la Foi. B. Le miracle ‘de la manne’ dans le désert. Sur le revers, une jeune femme tenant le St. Sacrement. Hauteur 102, largeur 73 cent. Bois.’), fl. 360, to Boas Berg, for the Nederlandsch Museum voor Geschiedenis en Kunst (inv. nos. NM 2981, 2982);2According to Dekker 2002, pp. 453-54 the paintings were sold in 1875 by the Poor Board of Goes in 1875 at a public sale; according to Inventory NMGK the paintings were the property of the city of Veere. transferred with SK-A-867 to the museum, 1885; on loan with SK-A-867 to the Mauritshuis, The Hague, 1960-2004; on loan with SK-A-867 to the Zeeuws Museum, Middelburg, since 2004

Object number: SK-A-867

The artist

Biography

Anonymous, Antwerp

Entry

See SK-A-866.

Literature

See SK-A-866.

Download Bibliography (PDF)

Collection catalogues

See SK-A-866.

Citation

V. Hoogland, 2010, 'anonymous, Right Wing of an Altarpiece with the Gathering of Manna (inner wing) and Ecclesia (outer wing), Antwerp, c. 1510 - c. 1520', in J.P. Filedt Kok (ed.), Early Netherlandish Paintings, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20027200

(accessed 7 December 2025 17:20:44).

Footnotes

  • 1Dekker 2002, pp. 453-54.
  • 2According to Dekker 2002, pp. 453-54 the paintings were sold in 1875 by the Poor Board of Goes in 1875 at a public sale; according to Inventory NMGK the paintings were the property of the city of Veere.