Triptych with the Last Supper (centre panel), Adriana van Roon (c. 1450-1527) with St James the Greater (inner left wing), Dirk Pietersz Spangert (c. 1465-1549) with St Mary Magdalen (inner right wing), the coats of arms of Adriana van Roon (outer left wing) and the Spangert house mark (outer right wing)

Inscriptions

coat of arms, left wing, right on the prie-dieu, on the outer left wing:divided vertically, 1, on a silver field a horizontal red bar charged with a gold demi-lion flanked by 15 oblong green blocks, five over four above the bar and three over two over one below the bar; 2, one half and four whole triangular gold pieces on a red field a black house mark on a silver field
coat of arms, inner right wing, lower left, on the prie-dieu:a black house mark on a silver field

Technical notes

Since it was not possible to investigate the object, the following technical notes, condition report etc. are based on earlier observations. According to Amsterdam 1986a, p. 134, the three glass panels were painted on the reverse of a flat panel of glass in the original frame (painted surface centre panel: 34.2 x 27.2 cm; painted surface wings: 33 x 12 cm). The reverse of the centre panel was covered with an oak panel and the backs of the wings were covered with panels bearing the coats of arms of the donors.

Condition

According to Amsterdam 1986a, p. 134, there were a few scratches, lacunae and discoloured retouchings in the paint layers on the reverse of the glass panels.

Original framing

The triptych is mounted in its original late-medieval frame.{Schmidt 1954, pp. 195-96, no. 86.} The cross-section of the profile shows a polychrome tenia followed by a gilded cove, a scotia, and a bead at the sight edge. The sill has a bevelled sight edge. The frame is gilded and polychromed with a diamond-like pattern painted on a red ground.

Provenance

? Commissioned by Adriana van Roon and Dirk Spangert, for the Leeuwenhorst Convent, Noordwijkerhout;¹De Moor 1981, pp. 63-78. ...; sale, Adriaan van der Willigen (1766-1841, Haarlem) and his nephew, Dr Adriaan van der Willigen Pz (1810-76, Haarlem), sold on the premises (A.G. de Visser), 20 (21) April 1874 sqq., no. 134, as Anonymous, probably Haarlem, early 16th century (‘Triptyque, composée de trois vitraux, polychromes, rehaussés d’or, par un maître anonyme hollandaise, probablement de Harlem du commencement du 16e siécle [...]. Au bas de sa droite, il y a un écusson, avec les armoiries de la famille Oem van Wyngaarden. Sur l’extérieur des portes en bois, sont peintes à l’huile, les mêmes armoiries de l’intérieur’.), fl. 1,200 (after sale), to the dealer J.I. Boas Berg, Amsterdam;²Copy RKD; copy RMA. ....; sale, Frédéric Spitzer (1815-90, Paris), Paris (P. Chevallier), 17 April 1893 sqq., no. 2116, as German, frs. 5,700, to the museum;³Copy RMA..

ObjectNumber: SK-A-4294

The artist

Biography

Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen (Oostzaan c. 1472/77 - Amsterdam 1528/33), circle of

Van Mander states that Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen was born in Oostzaan, a small village north of Amsterdam, and that he was already an experienced painter with teenage children when Jan van Scorel entered his workshop around 1512. Going by Van Mander’s information that Jacob’s son Dirck died in 1567 at around 70 years of age, meaning that he was born c. 1497, it is assumed that Jacob was born between 1472 and 1477. There is no information about his parents, nor when he moved to Amsterdam or by whom he was trained. Nor is it known when Jacob married his wife Anna. They had four children, at least two of whom were trained by their father: Cornelis Jacobsz, about whom there is no further information, and Dirck Jacobsz, who was best known as a portrait painter. Also according to Van Mander, Jacob Cornelisz’s brother was Cornelis Buys I, who was active as a painter in Alkmaar. The earliest mention of Jacob Cornelisz in Amsterdam is an archival document from 1500 that shows that he bought a house in the Kalverstraat. Since his wife is recorded as a widow on 18 October 1533, and his second house was sold in his absence in the autumn of 1532, it is accepted that he died before the first date, and possibly before the second. In 1526, 1527 and 1528, Egmond Abbey paid him for work on a large retable, so his date of death can be placed somewhere between 1528 and 1533.

Several of the paintings and the bulk of the drawings by Jacob Cornelisz bear his initials I (for Iacob) and A (referring to the city where he worked) and his monogram, which consists of a V and an upside-down W, the latter probably an allusion to the surname War or Warre that he sometimes used.

Most of the 200-odd woodcuts after designs by Jacob Cornelisz are dated between 1507 and 1522, making it easy to follow his development. Only 6 of the 30 or so paintings attributed to him have the monogram, but a good number are dated. The earliest ones with dates are two of 1507 that are attributed to him: the Noli me tangere in Kassel,⁴Gemäldegalerie; illustrated in ENP XII, 1975, no. 270, pl. 147. and The Crucifixion in a private collection.⁵Illustrated in Meuwissen 2006, p. 250, fig. 1. His last known, securely attributed painting dates from 1526 (SK-A-668).

In addition to paintings on canvas and panel and woodcuts there are designs for stained-glass windows and copes, and ceiling paintings. Jacob’s painted oeuvre mostly consists of religious works: large altarpieces, smaller panels for private devotion, and several which appear to have been made for the open market. There are also a few autonomous portraits that are attributed to him. Jacob’s earliest works are craftsman-like and executed in a very laborious technique, looking more as if they were drawn with paint than painted. The choice of subject is traditional. It was only in his later work, undoubtedly influenced by Jan van Scorel, that he transcended the craftsman-like in technique, style and iconography. His large output indicates that he had a sizable workshop with several assistants, including Jan van Scorel and his sons Cornelis Jacobsz and Dirck Jacobsz, and possibly his grandsons Cornelis Anthonisz and Jacob Dirksz as well.

References
Van Mander 1604, fol. 207r-v; Brulliot I, 1832, no. 19; Cohen in Thieme/Becker VII, 1912, pp. 428-30; Steinbart 1922, pp. 2-8; Steinbart 1929, pp. 1-48; Friedländer XII, 1935, pp. 96-111; Steinbart 1937; Hoogewerff III, 1939, pp. 72-143; Bruyn 1966, pp. 149, 160, 161; ENP XII, 1975, pp. 53-64; Van Eeghen 1986, pp. 95-132; Carroll 1987; Miedema II, 1995, pp. 284-93; Carroll in Turner 1996, VII, pp. 868-70; Beaujean in Saur XXI, 1999, pp. 235-38; Meuwissen 2006, pp. 55-81

(Daantje Meuwissen)

Entry

This triptych has been missing since April 2004, so it was not possible to subject it to a technical examination in order to determine the working method and thus attempt to identify the artist. Its disappearance is extremely regrettable for several reasons, for it is the earliest dated and best-preserved northern Netherlandish example of a reverse-glass painting. The three panels are also in their original painted frame. The centre panel and wings are all painted on the reverse of a glass panel, with black lines for the contours and incisions in the paint for the inner drawing and the depiction of details. In the final stage gold leaf was used for the gilded passages.⁶See Ritz 1972, pp. 10, 153, no. 7.

The scene on the centre panel is the Last Supper.⁷Kirschbaum I, 1968, cols. 10-18; see also SK-A-2129. Unlike most depictions of the subject, in which Christ is flanked by six disciples on either side, the figures are seated at a round table with eight disciples on the left and four on the right. Judas with the purse at his belt is in the left foreground. In the immediate foreground is an overturned stool and a dog gnawing on a bone.⁸Bangs 1999, p. 110, rightly pointed out that the latter detail was borrowed from an engraving of the same subject by Master IAM van Zwoll, Hollstein XII, 1955, p. 254, no. 2. The Rijksmuseum glass painting is often associated with the work of Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen, but the details mentioned above form a departure from Last Supper scenes in woodcuts of his of 1513-14⁹See for example RP-P-B.I. and c. 1520,¹⁰Hollstein V, 1951, p. 6, no. 26 (St. 79), p. 11, no. 67 (St. 20). and from a drawing attributed to him in Berlin.¹¹Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Kupferstichkabinett, c. 1510-14; see Husband in New York 1995, pp. 99-103, nos. 38-40, for the drawing, the woodcut of 1513-14, and a glass panel based on it. Other details in the Rijksmuseum painting, such as the round table and the disciples, are both similar to and different from the woodcuts and the drawing.¹²Husband in New York 1995, pp. 99, 102-03. For example, the Eucharistic chalice is missing. On the other hand, the dish in the Amsterdam work has small loaves of bread instead of the roast animal in the other scenes.

This is a memorial tablet which must have been commissioned by the donors depicted, who are identifiable from their coats of arms on both the inner and the outer wings. The Haarlem antiquary Adriaan van der Willigen Pz (1810-76), who owned the triptych for a while, established that the nun’s coat contains the arms of Oem van Wyngaarden. Moes then identified her in his Iconographia Batavia as Adriana Oem van Wijngaarden, abbess of the Leeuwenhorst Convent,¹³Moes II, 1905, p 156, no. 5507. an exclusive Cistercian house that existed from 1261 and 1572 and was situated near Noordwijkerhout. There is now far more information about these two figures, thanks to the research into the convent’s accounts published by Geertruida de Moor in 1981. They can be identified as Adriana van Roon (c. 1450-1527) and Dirk Pietersz Spangert (c. 1465-1549).¹⁴See De Moor 1981; De Moor 1982; De Moor 1991.

Adriana van Roon is on the left wing with St James the Greater behind her. As a nun she is wearing a white tunic, the hem of which can be seen at the bottom, over which she has a black habit. The white edge of her tunic can also be seen underneath her black hood, the sign of the eternal promise she has made.¹⁵De Moor 1981, p. 63, points out that in this period the Cistercians’ white habit was replaced by a black one for practical reasons. Adrian’s crosier identifies her as an abbess. Her coat of arms is divided vertically and consists of the coats of the Oem van Wyngaarden family and manor of Rhoon, of which Adrian and her mother were ladies.¹⁶This coat of arms confirms Moes’s assumption that Adriana van Roon was the daughter of Dirk Oem van Wijngaarden. Adriana entered the Leeuwenhorst Convent in 1460-61, became its cantrix in 1483-84, is documented as prioress in 1493 and abbess in 1497.¹⁷De Moor 1981, pp. 63-66; Adriana van Roon’s gravestone, from which the coat of arms has been removed (illustrated on p. 69), is still in the Dutch Reformed Church in Rhoon.

The male donor on the right wing is accompanied by Mary Magdalen. His alb, stole (the narrow decorated band around his neck) and his tonsure identify him as a priest. The coat of arms on his prie-dieu consists of a black house mark on a silver field. This mark is found in the convent accounts for 1493-94, allowing the donor to be identified as the convent chaplain, Dirk Pietersz Spangert. He was born in Haarlem and was registered as a student of the liberal arts at Louvain University in 1488. In November that year he entered the convent’s service as a schoolmaster. A great deal is known about him. He was admitted to the priesthood by the diocese of Utrecht in 1489. He occupied many positions in the Leeuwenhorst Convent, lived there for a long time, and became the abbess’s notary and adviser on canon law. He made several wills, which show that he was fairly well-off and was a benefactor of the convent.¹⁸De Moor 1981, pp. 63-75; see also De Moor 1982, pp. 93-94.

The combination of these two individuals makes it likely that the triptych was commissioned by both of them, and that it had a place in the Leeuwenhorst Convent.¹⁹According to the catalogue of the Van der Willigen sale, 20 April 1874, no. 134, the triptych came from the Convent of St Clarissa, Oude Gracht, opposite the Jacobijnenstraat, Haarlem; this may be a reference to the Convent of St Clare, see Koorn 1996, pp. 60-66. Van Bueren has pointed out that this is the only memorial tablet to depict a priest and a nun who were not related to each other. Dirk, however, was Adriana’s personal chaplain. Van Bueren suggested that the triptych might have been painted on the occasion of a long illness of Adriana’s, or on her death in 1527.²⁰Van Bueren in Utrecht 1999, p. 69. Remarkably, she is depicted on the left wing, an important position on Christ’s right hand that was usually reserved for men.

The triptych was first attributed to Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen in the Rijksmuseum’s collection catalogue of 1903, but was later relegated to being in his manner.²¹Coll. cat. 1976, p. 177, and Kloek in Amsterdam 1986a, pp. 134-35, who also refers to glass painting in Leiden. In 1999 Bangs attributed it to Simon Claasz van Waterlant II (c. 1489-1577), a member of a famous family of painters in Haarlem, whose life and career is well documented in the archives.²²Bangs 1999, pp. 102-18. Interestingly, Simon Claasz van Waterlant II had close ties to Dirk Pietersz Spangert, as shown among other things by the fact that Spangert commissioned him to polychrome the high altar retable in the convent church between 1532 and 1536, and to paint wings for it.²³See De Moor 1981, pp. 71-72; Bangs 1999, pp. 108-10. However, Bangs’s attribution has not been accepted in the literature on Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen. It is true that his workshop is known to have designed stained glass, in addition to its output of paintings, woodcuts and embroidery, but the triptych lacks the figure types characteristic of his work, as well as his personal and easily recognisable style of drawing.²⁴Kloek drew attention to the stylistic similarities to an Amsterdam reverse-glass painting of a bishop saint from the same period, which is now in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg, illustrated in Amsterdam 1986a, p. 125, fig. 21b. Although the documents published by Bangs show that Simon Claasz van Waterlant II carried out commissions for Dirk Spangert, that is not conclusive evidence that he painted this triptych. In addition, the oeuvre that Bangs proposes for the artist is rather heterogeneous,²⁵Bangs 1999, pp. 111-23, 131-32. so it would seem better to retain the ‘circle of Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen’ attribution until new data come to light.

One unresolved question is whether the production of reverse-glass paintings was a speciality of a painter’s workshop or was associated more with production of stained glass. It is known that dozens of stained-glass windows were donated to the Leeuwenhorst Convent in the early decades of the 16th century.

(Daantje Meuwissen/Jan Piet Filedt Kok)

Literature

Moes II, 1905, p. 156, no. 5507; Ritz 1972, pp. 10, 153, no. 7 (as Holland, beginning of the 16th century); De Moor 1981, pp. 63-78; Kloek 'et al.' 1986, pp. 42-43; Kloek in Amsterdam 1986a, pp. 134-35, no. 21; Bangs 1999, pp. 65-67, 108-11 (as Simon Claasz van Waterlant II); Van Bueren in Utrecht 1999, pp. 68-69, 85, 90, 273 (as circle of Jacob Cornelisz or Leiden)

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Collection catalogues

1903, p. 322, no. 2915 (as Jacob Cornelisz); 1934, p. 347, no. 2915; 1976, p. 177, no. A 4294 (as manner of Jacob Cornelisz; inner left wing as Adriana Oem (d. 1527), abbess of Terlee or Leeuwenhorst); 1992, p. 48, no. A 4294 (as manner of Jacob Cornelisz)

Citation

(accessed 12 May 2025 01:23:08).