The Betrayal of Christ

The authorship of this intense and dramatic rendering of the Betrayal of Christ is not known, but the style shows affinities with that of both Bernard van Orley (c. 1488-1548) and Jan Gossaert. Indeed it may form part of a dismembered series of The Passion of Christ, of which other parts have been attributed to both artists. In the Blumberger sale, Lempertz, Cologne, 13 October 1911, lot 153, a panel was offered of similar dimensions with an arched top depicting Christ on the Way to Calvary. This was attributed to Bernard van Orley. Friedlnder reproduced two similar works in his catalogue devoted to the works of Jan Gossaert - a Crucifixion formerly in the Stillwell collection, New York, and a Deposition, formerly in the R. Traumann collection, Madrid (see M.J. Friedlnder, Early Netherlandish Painting, Jan Gossaert and Bernard van Orley, comments and notes by H. Pauwels and S. Herzog, Leyden, Brussels, VIII, 1972, p. 93, nos. 16 and 17, pl. 23, where the attribution to Jan Gossaert is questioned. A drawing by Gossaert, Christ crowned with Thorns at Berlin (Friedlnder, loc. cit., p. 41, no. 9, pl. 65) is of a similar format. The attribution of this drawing to Gossaert was doubted by H. Pauwels, H.R. Hoetink, and S. Herzog in the catalogue of the exhibition, Jan Gossaert genaamd Mabuse, Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, and Groeningemuseum, Bruges, 1965, no. 64. That entry refers to other likely components of the series, whose attribution to Gossaert was doubted: a Christ before Pilate and the Nailing of Christ to the Cross, both with Finck, 1961; it also mentions an untitled work in the L. Davies collection, London. The Deposition, as is pointed out, was published by Baldass in 1915.