The Lamentation, the Entombment taking place beyond

The identity of the artist is unknown. He is named after the picture of the Madonna and Child with female Saints in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, around which Friedländer compiled an oeuvre (M.J. Friedländer in Early Netherlandish Painting, V, 1969, p.81, n063, plate 41). The artist is believed to have been active in Delft circa 1480-1495 and his style connects with Geertgen to Sint Jans. Friedländer has pinpointed the large heads with high foreheads and small chins as characteristics of the artist. The master seems to have specialised in scenes of mourning such as the Entombment and the Lamentation. The present picture is to be compared with the Lamentation in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool (Friedländer, op. cit., p.80, n058, plate 39) and the Descent from the Cross, the present whereabouts unknown (Friedländer, op. cit., p.80, n057, plate 38).