拍品專文
In the Christie's 1978 catalogue it is noted that the seal on the reverse of the first painting was identified by Dr. Strieder as that of the Waldbott-Bassenheim family. Dr. Strieder suggested that the altarpiece to which the present paintings belonged may have decorated the church of Bassenheim, near Koblenz, Germany. The church was rebuilt at the beginning of the eighteenth century, at which time the altarpiece may have entered the Waldbott-Bassenheim collection.
The Christie's catalogue further notes that the first painting was in the Krüger collection, possibly referring to that of Carl Wilhelm August Krüger (1797-1868). In April 1854 sixty-four pictures from the Krüger collection were acquired for the British Nation, of which seventeen where placed on exhibition at the National Gallery, London, several months later. On February 14, 1857 however, the Trustees consigned thirty-seven of them to Christie's, London. Between 1848, when a catalogue of the collection was published at Minden (see National Gallery of Art, London archives) and 1857, Krüger himself disposed of several pictures, at which time one or both of the paintings may have left his collection.
Little biographical information about Krüger is known, except that he was born in Stettin on June 11, 1797 and held various legal posts in Frankfurt, Münster, Minden and Aachen. He retired in 1859, and died less than a decade later in Münster. It seems likely that his collection, which consisted almost entirely of early German, mainly Westphalian, pictures was chiefly formed in the 1820s (see M. Levey, The German School, National Gallery Catalogues, 1959, p. 79 and Appendix II: The Krüger Collection, pp. 112-4; and W.K. Schmidt, Mindener Heimatblätter, June/August 1953, pp. 62ff).
The present paintings may have been executed by an artist working in the workshop of Hans Klocker (see, for example, A. Stange, Deutsche malerei der Gotik, 1961, XI, p. 192, pls. 307-8)
The Christie's catalogue further notes that the first painting was in the Krüger collection, possibly referring to that of Carl Wilhelm August Krüger (1797-1868). In April 1854 sixty-four pictures from the Krüger collection were acquired for the British Nation, of which seventeen where placed on exhibition at the National Gallery, London, several months later. On February 14, 1857 however, the Trustees consigned thirty-seven of them to Christie's, London. Between 1848, when a catalogue of the collection was published at Minden (see National Gallery of Art, London archives) and 1857, Krüger himself disposed of several pictures, at which time one or both of the paintings may have left his collection.
Little biographical information about Krüger is known, except that he was born in Stettin on June 11, 1797 and held various legal posts in Frankfurt, Münster, Minden and Aachen. He retired in 1859, and died less than a decade later in Münster. It seems likely that his collection, which consisted almost entirely of early German, mainly Westphalian, pictures was chiefly formed in the 1820s (see M. Levey, The German School, National Gallery Catalogues, 1959, p. 79 and Appendix II: The Krüger Collection, pp. 112-4; and W.K. Schmidt, Mindener Heimatblätter, June/August 1953, pp. 62ff).
The present paintings may have been executed by an artist working in the workshop of Hans Klocker (see, for example, A. Stange, Deutsche malerei der Gotik, 1961, XI, p. 192, pls. 307-8)