Inner Left Wing of a Diptych with Christ as the Man of Sorrows

The support is a single vertically grained oak plank, 0.3-0.6 cm thick. There is a panel maker’s mark of an impressed star within a circle (fig. b), similar to that on the pendant (SK-A-1484). Dendrochronology has shown that the youngest heartwood ring was formed in 1548. The panel could have been ready for use by 1559, but a date in or after 1573 is more likely. The plank came from the same tree as that used for the pendant. The white ground and the paint layers were applied smoothly up to the edges of the support. The ground layer is a traditional chalk-glue ground with linseed oil. Infrared reflectography revealed an underdrawing for the figures in a dry medium, schematically indicating the contours and drapery folds. It could therefore be assumed that the main lines were traced with the help of a specially prepared transfer paper. The figures were reserved. The painted composition closely follows the contours of the underdrawing. Conventional pigments, such as vermilion, lead-tin yellow, lead white and azurite with an admixture of smalt were identified. The paint layers were carefully built up in thin layers; the face and hands were painted wet in wet. Mordant gilding was used for the halo.

Wallert/Bijl 2001

Fair. The panel was broken in the past and there is some discoloured retouching on the craquelure. The varnish is slightly discoloured.

…; sale, F. Kaijser (†) (Frankfurt and Amsterdam) et al. [section F. Kaijser], Amsterdam (C.F. Roos), 4 December 1888 sqq., no. 25, as Albrecht Dürer, fl. 300, to Mr Santen,¹¹Copy RKD1. or fl. 275, to Mr Santen, for the widow of F. Kaijser;²²Copy RKD2. ...; purchased by the museum, fl. 316.50, 1889

ObjectNumber: SK-A-1483

The compositions of this small panel with Christ as the Man of Sorrows and its pendant The Virgin as Mater Dolorosa (SK-A-1484 or fig. d) exist in many versions. The combination of both scenes in a devotional diptych originated in Byzantine and Italian 13th and 14th-century painting. Diptychs of this kind met a need on the part of the faithful to meditate on Christ’s physical suffering during the Passion, and on the Virgin’s sorrow.⁷⁷Panofsky 1927; Ringbom 1965, p. 127; Kirschbaum IV, 1972, col. 91. The subject became popular in the Low Countries in the second half of the 16th century, and countless versions were produced until late in the century, chiefly in the workshops of the Louvain painters Dieric and Aelbert Bouts.⁸⁸ENP III, 1968, nos. 61-63, 83a-h, nos. add. 120-27, pls. 74-79, 92-93; Washington 2006, pp. 40-55, nos. 3, 4.

The underdrawing with schematic-looking contour lines and hatchings suggests that a cartoon was used for this diptych (see fig. a, infrared reflectogram assembly of (SK-A-1484). The thin layers of paint follow it precisely. Dendrochronological examination has shown that the panels were painted after 1559, and more probably after 1573. That late date can be confirmed by the use of smalt in the Virgin’s dress, which is a pigment that only came into common use in the second half of the century.⁹⁹Wallert/Bijl 2001, pp. 39-41. There has long been a suspicion that the Rijksmuseum diptych, as well as the many other versions, were painted in the southern Netherlands.¹⁰¹⁰Bott 1965, pp. 345-54. They were probably part of the high output of devotional diptychs in Antwerp in the second half of the 16th century. One possible clue to the place of origin is the so far unidentified panel maker’s mark on the back of both paintings, which Wadum sees as confirmation of an Antwerp origin (fig. b).¹¹¹¹Wadum 1993, pp. 96-100; Wallert/Bijl 2001, pp. 42-43.

In the Amsterdam diptych, Christ with the crown of thorns and the Virgin are shown half length, both with crossed hands and standing in front of a low, marbled wall. The monogram of Albrecht Dürer and the date 1511 were later added in the top right corner of the panel with Christ. Neither scene, though, is based on a work by Dürer but in all probability on a lost diptych by Lucas van Leyden.¹²¹²Smith 1992a, pp. 116-19, 310, no. 16. That prototype is known from an etching with the monogram L and the date 1522 which must have been made around 1600 (fig. c). The etching is an example of the great revival of interest in the work of Lucas van Leyden at that time, with several other variants being preserved in print.¹³¹³New Hollstein 1996, pp. 255-57, nos. 7-10. One work that is probably of an earlier date is a woodcut of The Virgin with the Rosary that is attributed to Lucas, in which the Virgin is almost identical to the one in this painting.¹⁴¹⁴New Hollstein 1996, p. 181, no. 198.

There are many versions of the diptych, most of them probably emanating from the same workshop. At present there are close on 30 known versions of both panels, almost 20 of them complete diptychs.¹⁵¹⁵Bott 1965, pp. 348-50; Smith 1992a, pp. 116-17; Wallert/Bijl 2001, pp. 348-50. On the evidence of the photo documentation in the RKD, seven pairs can be added to the eleven listed by Smith.¹⁶¹⁶1. Diptych, panel, 31.7 x 24.8 cm, with Spink & Son, London, 1923. 2. Diptych, panel, 29 x 24 cm, Frankfurt, Historisches Museum, inv. nos. B 371-72. 3. Diptych, panel, 32 x 25,5 cm, with Latin texts, with E. Lucas Moreno, 1938. 4. Diptych, panel, arched at the top, Dr Boly collection, Kevelaar. 5. Diptych, panel, 31 x 25 cm, Zeller collection, Ellwangen (Württ.), 1910. 6. Diptych, unknown convent in western Spain (as Leiden school). 7. Diptych, with Di Castro, Rome, 1957. In addition, three more versions of The Virgin as Mater Dolorosa unaccompanied by a pendant have been found in the files of the RKD to add to the five mentioned by Smith,¹⁷¹⁷1. Panel, 21 x 16 cm, sale, Lempertz, Cologne, no. 424, fig. 8, no. 121. 2. Panel, 28 x 23 cm, with B. Cohen & Sons, London, 1968, no. 5906. 3. Panel, 33.5 x 25.5 cm, sale, Paris (Drouot/Tajan), 27 October 2006, no. 34. and the three versions listed by Smith of Christ as the Man of Sorrows unaccompanied by a pendant can be joined by three more.¹⁸¹⁸1. Panel, 30 x 26 cm, location unknown. 2. Sale, Cologne (Lempertz), 18 May 1996, no. 1014. 3. Libot-Anthonissen collection, Belgium. As well as all these versions there are mentions of similar diptychs by or after Lucas van Leyden in 17th-century inventories in Antwerp and The Hague.¹⁹¹⁹Smith 1992a, p. 310, note 2. One such is found in the inventory of Claes Claesz van Leeuwen, who died in Leiden on 23 January 1645: ‘Two scenes, being Christ and Our Lady, copies after Lucas van Leyden’.²⁰²⁰Bredius notes, RKD: ‘Twee taferelen, sijnde een Christus en Lieve Vrou, copiën naar Lucas van Leyden’.

(Menno Balm/Jan Piet Filedt Kok)

Bott 1965; Smith 1992, pp. 116-19, 310; Wallert/Bijl 2001

1903, p. 3, nos. 19, 20 (as German school, copies, first half 16th century); 1976, p. 685, nos. A 1483, A 1484 (as Leiden school, c. 1515)

M. Balm, 2010, 'copy after Lucas van Leyden, Inner Left Wing of a Diptych with Christ as the Man of Sorrows, c. 1557 - c. 1600', in J.P. Filedt Kok (ed.), Early Netherlandish Paintings, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.12114