Left Wing of an Altarpiece with the Circumcision (inner wing) and the Virgin of an Annunciation (outer wing)

The support is a single vertically grained oak plank, approx. 0.5 cm thick, painted on both sides. It has been sawn down at the top, which was probably arched originally. The bottom of the panel may have been trimmed slightly. Dendrochronology has shown that the youngest heartwood ring was formed in 1476. The panel could have been ready for use by 1487, but a date in or after 1501 is more likely. The thin and smooth ground was probably applied in the original frame. In some areas the ground is visible through the paint layers, as in the tile floor on the front and the marble niche on the reverse. There is a barbe and unpainted edges of approx. 0.5 to 0.8 cm on the left and right sides on both the front and back of the panel. There is an underdrawing in a dry medium, probably black chalk, which is visible with infrared reflectography. It consists of contour lines and hatchings for shading and volume. The elaborate underdrawing could be easily detected, especially in the figures of the priest and the Christ Child (fig. a). Except for some lines in the face there was no underdrawing visible in ‘The Virgin’ on the reverse. The paint was applied quite smoothly, and is thicker in the figures. Some impasto was used to suggest texture, especially for the decoration of the column and the headgear of the priest in ‘The Circumcision’. Some minor ‘pentimenti’ are present, in the black and pinkish headgear of the woman on the right in ‘The Circumcision’, for example, the contour lines of which have been moved slightly. The lower part of the Virgin’s right hand on the back of the panel was painted over the underlying paint.

Good. Some pigments may have discoloured. The brownish garment of the priest in The Circumcision, for example, was probably blue originally.

…; from the dealer F. Muller, Amsterdam, fl. 200, as Dutch school, early 16th century, to the museum, 1898; on loan to the Mauritshuis, The Hague, 1948-97

ObjectNumber: SK-A-1725

This small panel is probably the left wing of a triptych with its arched top sawn off. The front shows the Christ Child being circumcised in the Temple. According to the gospels, that took place eight days after his birth, when he was also given the name Jesus (Luke 2:21). It is fairly unusual for Joseph to be holding the Child for the circumcision. That is a task normally performed by the Virgin, who is standing beside him here. The candle that is customary in the scene is being held by one of the onlookers behind Joseph. It is an allusion to Christ as the light of the world, and to the purification of the Virgin, which was often combined with the Circumcision.²²Schiller I, 1966, pp. 100-04. One unusual detail is the three coins hanging from the candle. Such candles were sold to pilgrims as votive offerings, and it is possible that this one alludes to the giving of money that was customary at a circumcision.³³Such candles with a coin are depicted in scenes of the death of the Virgin in 15th-century art; see Corley 1996, p. 109; Ridderbos 2007. The reverse of the Amsterdam panel has the Virgin standing in a niche with a book. She has hitherto been regarded as a Sibyl, but it is much more likely that she is a Virgin of the Annunciation, as so often found on the outer wings of triptychs.⁴⁴See, for example, ENP IV, 1969, nos. 5, 9, 51, 54, pls. 7, 12, 54, 56, and SK-A-3141. As far as is known, no other panels have survived from the triptych. The centre panel was probably an Adoration of the Magi, for there are other examples of such a combination.⁵⁵See, for example, ENP IV, 1969, nos. 9-10, pls. 12, 14.

The sketchy underdrawing prepared the figures with short and rather impatient scrawly lines. This is particularly visible under the Christ Child, whose head was defined with several contour lines (fig. a). The figures were carefully reserved in the background on the basis of the underdrawing, with the occasional encroachment over the contour lines. There are a few alterations relative to the underdrawing, particularly in the eyes of several of the figures. The artist drew upright ovals to mark the eyes, but often failed to follow this in the paint. The same is true of the figure of the Virgin on the outer panel.

There has been much speculation about the identity of this artist. Stylistic similarities to the work of Cornelis Engebrechtsz place the panel in Leiden, where it was probably made by one of his pupils. However, there are no works that can be securely attached to those pupils, who included Engebrechtsz’s three sons. Van Gelder, Friedländer and Baldass had earlier attributed the wing to Jan de Cock, who was active in Antwerp.⁶⁶Van Gelder 1927, p. 74; Friedländer XI, 1933, pp. 66-70, 126; Baldass 1937, p. 125. Beets hesitantly gave it to Lucas Cornelisz named De Cock or his brother Cornelis Cornelisz named Kunst.⁷⁷Beets 1936, p. 3. Gibson assigned it to the Master of the Vienna Lamentation.⁸⁸Gibson 1969a, p. 257, no. 68. It is true that the figures and faces in the Amsterdam panel do bear a striking resemblance to those in the Vienna Lamentation (fig. b), such as the uneven placement of the eyes remarked upon by Gibson, and the way in which they are underdrawn.⁹⁹Gibson 1969a, p. 186. The manner of painting and the underdrawing in both works, which can be dated between 1520 and 1530, are so closely related that one can only conclude that they are by the same artist.¹⁰¹⁰For the underdrawing in the Vienna panel, which deviates from the style of Cornelis Engebrechtsz, see Filedt Kok 1999, pp. 26-28. The rather heterogenous group of paintings that Gibson attributed to the Master of the Vienna Lamentation needs further investigation, but there is little doubt that the artist can be associated with the workshop of Cornelis Engebrechtsz, and may have been one of his sons.¹¹¹¹See Beets 1935; Beets 1936.
MB/JPFK

Van Gelder 1927, p. 74 (as Jan de Cock); Friedländer XI, 1933, pp. 66-70, 126 (as Jan de Cock); Beets 1936, p. 3 (as Cornelis Cornelisz named Kunst or Lucas Cornelisz named De Cock); Baldass 1937, p. 125 (as Jan de Cock); Hoogewerff III, 1939, pp. 372-74 (as Lucas Cornelisz named De Cock); Gibson 1969a, pp. 187, 195, 257, no. 68 (as Master of the Vienna Lamentation); ENP XI, 1974, pp. 42, 78, no. 106 (as Jan de Cock)

1903, p. 7, no. 52 (as Dutch school, beginning of the 16th century); 1934, p. 7, no. 52 (as Dutch school, beginning of the 16th century; attributed to Jan Wellens de Cock); 1976, p. 175, no. A 1725 (as attributed to Cornelis Cornelisz named Kunst; back as 'Grisaille of a sibylle')

M. Balm, 2010, 'attributed to Pseudo Jan Wellens de Cock, Left Wing of an Altarpiece with the Circumcision (inner wing) and the Virgin of an Annunciation (outer wing), c. 1515 - c. 1525', in J.P. Filedt Kok (ed.), Early Netherlandish Paintings, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.7481