Triptych with the Virgin and Child (centre panel), St John the Evangelist (inner left wing) and Mary Magdalen (inner right wing)

The centre panel and the wings of this triptych each consist of a single vertically grained oak plank. The centre panel is slightly bevelled on all sides. Dendrochronology of the centre panel has shown that the youngest heartwood ring was formed in 1494. The panel could have been ready for use by 1505, but a date in or after 1519 is more likely. The smoothly applied, off-white ground is visible along the edges and shows through the paint layers in some areas. A barbe is present on all three panels. An underdrawing on the centre panel and the inner wings is partly visible to the naked eye and more so with infrared reflectography. The free, sketchy style of the underdrawing on the centre panel differs significantly from the schematic style of that on the wings. The Virgin’s robe was painted with vermilion, glazed with red lake and covered by white highlights. Large shapes were reserved. The infrared reflectogram assembly and the X-ray show some major changes in the composition of the centre panel. Two columns in the foreground and two in the background were underdrawn but not painted. The cloth behind the Virgin originally continued over the balustrade and was narrower. The golden ornaments were overpainted with lead-tin yellow, which may be a later addition.

Pottasch 1994

Fair. The centre panel is severely abraded and has numerous pinpoint losses and raised paint, which is now stable. The reds, in particular, are quite discoloured and have become transparent.

The triptych is mounted in a very well-preserved late-medieval oak frame with gilding and polychromy. The panels are set in engaged frames. A cross-section of the profile of the central frame shows a wide tenia, a bevel, an ogee, a bevel and a jump at the sight edge (fig. d). The sill also has a wide tenia and a bevelled sight edge (fig. e). The frames surrounding the wings have a compressed version of the same profile which meets the panel directly with a small bevel (fig. f). The wing sills have a wider bevel than the central frame. The backs of all three frames are flat with a moderate slant at the sight edge all around. The frame surrounding the centre panel has partly mitred, stub mortise and tenon joints, secured with dowels (fig. g). The frames surrounding the wings have partly mitred, through mortise and tenon joints (fig. h). The ogee sections of the frames are gilded, and the tenia sections have preserved their original polychromy. The wide tenia of the central frame is painted red. On top of this red background architectural motifs, tracery, figures, animals and shields are painted in grey, with black shadows and white modelling and highlights creating a three-dimensional illusion. The tenia sections of the frames surrounding the wings are painted in the same red colour as the central frame, but without further decoration. The sides and the back of the frames surrounding the wings are painted black. The reverse of the central frame is not painted. The wings can be held together when closed with hardware that is still in place on the reverse of the frames surrounding the wings. There is a metal plate with a ring nailed onto the back of the central frame at the top.

…; collection Cornelis Hoogendijk (1866-1911), The Hague, before 1902;¹¹Henkels 1993, pp. 161-62. from whom on loan to the museum (inv. no. SK-C-872), 1907-11; donated to the museum from Hoogendijk’s estate, 1912; on loan to the Mauritshuis, The Hague, since 1924

ObjectNumber: SK-A-2570

Credit line: Gift of the heirs of C. Hoogendijk, The Hague

The Virgin, seated beneath an ornate canopy in the centre panel, is supporting the Christ Child, who is seated on a cushion on a stone balustrade which extends inwards from the frame to form a link between the physical world of the viewer and the spiritual world of the Virgin and her child. The latter is holding a goldfinch, a symbol of his Passion, which is tied by a chain to a small majolica vase decorated with Christ’s monogram which holds red roses and lilies-of the-valley - symbols of Mary’s virginity.⁴⁴Friedman 1946; Falkenburg 1994, p. 10. St John the Evangelist is shown on the left wing as an apostle, young and beardless. He is recognisable from his attribute of a chalice from which a small dragon is emerging.⁵⁵Kirschbaum VII, 1974, cols. 108-30; Hall 1974, p. 175. On the right wing, with her jar of ointment, is Mary Magdalen wearing a costly gown and jewellery in reference to her worldly life before she met Christ. She is also seen in the background as a penitent hermit after her conversion.⁶⁶See Kirschbaum VII, 1974, cols. 516-41; Hall 1992, pp. 202-04. The outer wings are painted in imitation marble; the left shows green marble and the right porphyry marble.]

The original frame around the centre panel is decorated with motifs borrowed from woodcuts by Albrecht Dürer (fig. a). Along the sides are three heroes from the Old Testament - Moses, David and Gideon - and three prophets. Moses appears again at the bottom seated between two owls, which are symbols of the synagogue. All these figures symbolise the Old Covenant, which was replaced by the New Covenant with Christ’s arrival on earth. Along the top of the frame are figures mounted on unicorns doing battle with others on lions, which is an allusion to female chastity vanquishing sensuality.⁷⁷Panofsky 1945, I, pp. 97-103.

It is remarkable that the Virgin is shown half-length while St John and the Magdalen are full-lengths. Nor does the landscape in the centre panel match up with that on the wings. One would assume that the panels did not originally form a single unit were it not for the fact that the frame around the entire triptych is original.⁸⁸Pottasch 1994. Friedländer, however, pointed out that the wings are more clearly in Provoost’s style than the centre panel.⁹⁹Friedländer IX, 1931, p. 145, no. 122. Examination with infrared reflectography revealed that the same applies to the underdrawings. The style and method of those on the wings are a good match with other underdrawings by Provoost, whereas that on the centre panel is not. This confirms the suspicion that the centre panel was executed by another artist.¹⁰¹⁰Spronk in Bruges 1998, II, p. 48.

The infrared reflectogram assembly of the centre panel (fig. b) also shows that the composition was changed radically during the painting process. In the underdrawing the canopy is supported by four columns, and the cloth behind the Virgin was much narrower in an earlier paint layer, had light edges and extended forwards so that it draped over the balustrade. That original composition is very similar to a Virgin and Child in Paris by a follower of Rogier van der Weyden (fig. c), which is almost exactly the same size as the centre panel in the Rijksmuseum.¹¹¹¹There are several other versions of this devotional image, a type in which Christ’s legs are crossed, which is based on a very popular composition by a follower of Rogier van der Weyden (see Vos 1971, pp. 139-45, as our SK-A-2552). This type is described in Vos 1971, pp. 143-44. For an illustration of another version in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, see ENP II, 1967, no. 108.l, pl. 121. It is possible that the latter was intended to be an autonomous work of art before it acquired wings in Provoost’s workshop, when the composition must have been altered. The saints on the inner wings were very probably inspired by figures by the Master of the Legend of St Lucy: a John the Baptist¹²¹²Minneapolis Institute of Arts; illustrated in ENP VIa, 1971, no. 141, pl. 152. and a Mary Magdalen,¹³¹³Philadelphia Museum of Art; illustrated in ENP VIb, 1971, no. supp. 240, pl. 239. which in turn is a free interpretation of a prototype by Hugo van der Goes that is known from copies.¹⁴¹⁴Roberts 1987, pp. 12-16.

The date of the Amsterdam triptych is uncertain. The three Dürer woodcuts on which the motifs on the frame are based were published in 1511 in a series of scenes from the life of the Virgin. It is also conceivable that Provoost added the wings to the centre panel and painted the frame in the early 1520s after his meeting with Dürer in 1520-21. The dendrochronological findings seem to point in this direction.¹⁵¹⁵See Technical notes.

(V. Hoogland)

Friedländer IX, 1931, p. 145, no. 122; Tóth-Ubbens in coll. cat. The Hague 1968, p. 46, no. 783; ENP IXb, 1973, p. 111, no. 122; Roberts 1987, pp. 12-16; Spronk 1993, pp. 58-60, 62-63, 195; Pottasch 1994; Van Suchtelen in The Hague 1997, pp. 46-51; Pottasch 1997; Spronk in Bruges 1998, II, pp. 46-48, no. 28

1907, p. 398, no. 1923b; 1976, p. 457, no. A 2570 (as attributed to Provoost)

V. Hoogland, 2010, 'Jan Provoost, Triptych with the Virgin and Child (centre panel), St John the Evangelist (inner left wing) and Mary Magdalen (inner right wing), c. 1505 - c. 1525', in J.P. Filedt Kok (ed.), Early Netherlandish Paintings, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.7855