Lot Essay
The large number of versions of this composition is evidence of its popularity in the first half of the 16th Century in Flanders. G. Marlier op. cit., pp.97/9, lists 41 replica's, dated between 1527 and 1550. Most of the versions measure circa 60 x 80 cm, and as Marlier points out, op. cit., p.98, the present lot is among the largest.
H. Hymans in 1881 was the first to suggest the authorship of Coecke van Aelst for the composition; the proposal was based on an annotated engraving of 1585 by Goltzius, then in the Dutuit collection, Rouen (Marlier, op. cit., p.93, note 1).
As pointed out by W. Kroenig, "Das Abendmahls Bild des Pieter Coecke" in Miscellanea - Prof. Dr. D. Roggen, 1957, pp.161-177), the reason for the popularity of the composition may have been twofold: the Italian influence and the iconographic innovation. Coecke van Aelst clearly drew his inspiration from Italian prototypes such as Da Vinci's Last Supper in the S. Maria delle Grazie, Milan. The inclusion of the stories of Cain and Abel and David and Goliath on the tondo's on the wall serve as prefigurations of the Death of Christ, as do the stained glass scenes above Christ's head, depicting Adam and Eve and the Expulsion from Paradise. In the background, Christ is depicted riding on a donkey, on his entry into Jerusalem, where the Last Supper would take place. Thus Coecke van Aelst added a narative detail to the more prominent symbolic prefigurations.
H. Hymans in 1881 was the first to suggest the authorship of Coecke van Aelst for the composition; the proposal was based on an annotated engraving of 1585 by Goltzius, then in the Dutuit collection, Rouen (Marlier, op. cit., p.93, note 1).
As pointed out by W. Kroenig, "Das Abendmahls Bild des Pieter Coecke" in Miscellanea - Prof. Dr. D. Roggen, 1957, pp.161-177), the reason for the popularity of the composition may have been twofold: the Italian influence and the iconographic innovation. Coecke van Aelst clearly drew his inspiration from Italian prototypes such as Da Vinci's Last Supper in the S. Maria delle Grazie, Milan. The inclusion of the stories of Cain and Abel and David and Goliath on the tondo's on the wall serve as prefigurations of the Death of Christ, as do the stained glass scenes above Christ's head, depicting Adam and Eve and the Expulsion from Paradise. In the background, Christ is depicted riding on a donkey, on his entry into Jerusalem, where the Last Supper would take place. Thus Coecke van Aelst added a narative detail to the more prominent symbolic prefigurations.