Dismas and Gestas, the Good and the Bad Thieves

Dysmas, the Good Thief

BK-2014-20-1

De goede moordenaar, Dysmas, hangt in een expressieve, getormenteerde houding met diagonaal geplaatste ledematen aan het uit twee boomstammen opgebouwde kruis; de touwen waarmee hij is vastgebonden zijn uit hetzelfde hout gesneden. Hij is gekleed in een lendendoek en een mantel die aan de voorzijde openvalt en nog met enkele touwtjes bijeengehouden wordt. Daardoor is een deel van zijn borst ontbloot.

• inscription, on the bottom of the black, French-polished base, in white paint: ‘20562 / H. 257’ inventory nos. of the K.K. Österreichisches Museum für Kunst und Industrie in Vienna
• inscription, on a label on the bottom of the black, French-polished base, in black ink: ‘20562’

sculptor: attributed to Meester van het Sint-Anna-altaar in Kalkar, Lower Rhine region

c. 1490 - c. 1510

buxushout

height 18 cm

Purchased with the support of the Frits en Phine Verhaaff Fonds/Rijksmuseum Fonds and the Ebus Fonds/Rijksmuseum Fonds

Public domain

…; from the dealer Georg Plach (1818-1885), Vienna, 700 Gulden, to the K.K. Österreichisches Museum für Kunst und Industrie, Vienna, 1871, inv. nos. H.I. 20562, 20563, H 257 and H 258;{The first numbers are from the museum´s inventory book, the _Hauptinventarbuch_, where they are described as _Schächer mit Engel_ (H.I. 20562) and _Schächer mit Teufel_ (H.I. 20563). With the other numbers, the sculptures are described in the _Holzinventarbuch_ as _Figur des rechten Schächers_ (H 527) and _Figur des linken Schächers_ (H 258). My thanks to Dr Sebastian Hackenschmidt, Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna (written communication, 31 May 2014).} exchange by the museum (by then called Staatliches Kunstgewerbemuseum){The two figures and a group of 21 sculptures, as well as furniture pieces and tiles from the museum´s depot were exchanged for a group of Italian 15th- and 16th-century textiles. The two statuettes were appraised at RM 4,000 making them the costliest pieces in the exchange, which amounted to a total worth exceeding RM 20,000.} with dealer Oskar Hamel (d. 1946),{G. Anderl, `Die Stunde der Ariseure: Die unrühmliche Rolle die der Kunsthandel bei der `Arisierung´ jüdischen Vermögens gespielt hat: Ein Sittenbild aus dem Wien der jahre 1938ff´, _Der Standard (Album)_, 3-4 October 2009: `Dealer duo Karoline Nehammer and Oskar Hamel were among the most shameless beneficiaries of this situation. According to official investigations after the war, Hamel´s assets had increased more than 13-fold during the Nazi era, and the spreads between purchase and sale prices had been exorbitant. A report written in August 1945 by the department for safeguarding assets in the then State Office for the Interior says about Hamel´s rise after the `Anschluss´: ``The business was very modest. That changed fundamentally when the upheaval came. Hamel got going and became a millionaire. Today he owns the former Liechtenstein Castle Seebenstein, which he prepared as a furniture depot, then a furniture warehouse in the tennis hall of the Auersperg Palais, then the shop at 11 Piaristengasse and is Treasurer of the Dorotheum.´´´ (translated from the German).} Vienna, 30 May 1943; acquired by Hubert W. Krantz (d. 1963), Aachen, 1943; his heirs, sale Cologne (Van Ham), 16 November 2013, no. 1204 (as `South-German, 18th century´), €12,500, to the dealer Hopp-Gantner, Starnberg, 2013; from whom, €98,000, to the museum, with the support of the Frits en Phine Verhaaff Fonds/Rijksmuseum Fonds and the Ebus Fonds/Rijksmuseum Fonds, July 2014

To refer to this object, please use the following persistent URL:

https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/200592125