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拍品專文
Ambrosius Benson was a south Netherlandish painter of Italian birth. Originally known as Ambrogio Benzone, he was named after the patron saint of Milan, Saint Ambrose. He may have been attracted to Bruges by its commercial and artistic reputation and he acquired citizenship in 1518, being admitted to the guild of painters the following year. He is known to have worked in the studio of Gerard David, but evidently the two fell out, to the extent that the young painter brought a legal case against his Master. Benson's emerging style, heavily indebted to David, as well as Adriaen Ysenbrandt, Rogier van der Weyden and Hugo van der Goes, when combined with his early Lombard influences proved a highly successful formula and his fame grew steadily during his lifetime. He became a wealthy man, owning several houses, and numbering the city magistrates among his patrons. He held significant posts within the painters' guild, including dean from 1537-8 and again in 1543-4, and governor from 1540-1.
Despite these achievements, Benson's posthumous reputation was soon eclipsed and his works scattered. It was not until Friedländer made the connection between an altarpiece of St. Anthony of Padua (Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels), which is signed 'AB', and a number of works in Spain, that had been attributed to the anonymous 'Master of Segovia', that his oeuvre could be reconstructed. Not only did Friedländer establish that these were by the same hand, he also recognised the affinity with the work of Gerard David and searched the Bruges archives for the identity of the painter with the initials AB; the only possibility was Ambrosius Benson (for a full discussion, see M.J. Friedländer, Early Netherlandish Painting, XI, Leiden and Brussels, 1974, pp. 59-61). The fact that a sizeable amount of Benson's known oeuvre is to be found in Spain suggests that the artist had strong ties with that country, which benefited from Bruges' strong trading links and was no doubt also facilitated by his Latin origins.
In addition to large-scale altarpieces Benson also painted smaller devotional works, of which the present picture is an excellent example. In these works he sometimes reused the same motifs and compostional devices from the larger commissions, albeit on a different scale; for example the pose of the Christ Child, with his arms outstretched while breast feeding, in anticipation of the Crucifxion, can also be found in the right wing of the St. Anthony of Padua altarpiece. Benson's small-scale works in particular reveal the close affinity with his one-time master, Gerard David. The intimate scene of the Madonna and Child seated in an interior, with a window through which one sees a naturalistic landscape, derives from such works as David's Virgin and Child with the Milk Soup of circa 1515 (Aurora Trust, New York).
In addition to the tranquil domesticity of the two scenes another notable element of these two pictures is the presence of a delicately painted still life. David depicts a bread roll, an apple and a knife in the bottom right corner, as well as a small vase of flowers, a basket and a book beneath an open window. Benson, in the present work, similarly includes a bread roll with a bunch of grapes and a wonderfully rendered maiolica jar of flowers, with lilies, irises and a rose. Such detailed still lifes are rare in Benson's work; comparable vases of flowers can be found in Virgin and Child with a parrot (collection of Mrs. A.E. van Beuningen-Charlouis, Vierhouten) and in The Holy Family (Cà d'Oro, Venice, on loan from the Galleria dell'Accademia). His mastery of a wide range of flora can be seen in the foreground of a number of altarpieces (for example Virgin and Child crowned by two angels, formerly in the collection of W. Peach, Amsterdam).
Despite these achievements, Benson's posthumous reputation was soon eclipsed and his works scattered. It was not until Friedländer made the connection between an altarpiece of St. Anthony of Padua (Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels), which is signed 'AB', and a number of works in Spain, that had been attributed to the anonymous 'Master of Segovia', that his oeuvre could be reconstructed. Not only did Friedländer establish that these were by the same hand, he also recognised the affinity with the work of Gerard David and searched the Bruges archives for the identity of the painter with the initials AB; the only possibility was Ambrosius Benson (for a full discussion, see M.J. Friedländer, Early Netherlandish Painting, XI, Leiden and Brussels, 1974, pp. 59-61). The fact that a sizeable amount of Benson's known oeuvre is to be found in Spain suggests that the artist had strong ties with that country, which benefited from Bruges' strong trading links and was no doubt also facilitated by his Latin origins.
In addition to large-scale altarpieces Benson also painted smaller devotional works, of which the present picture is an excellent example. In these works he sometimes reused the same motifs and compostional devices from the larger commissions, albeit on a different scale; for example the pose of the Christ Child, with his arms outstretched while breast feeding, in anticipation of the Crucifxion, can also be found in the right wing of the St. Anthony of Padua altarpiece. Benson's small-scale works in particular reveal the close affinity with his one-time master, Gerard David. The intimate scene of the Madonna and Child seated in an interior, with a window through which one sees a naturalistic landscape, derives from such works as David's Virgin and Child with the Milk Soup of circa 1515 (Aurora Trust, New York).
In addition to the tranquil domesticity of the two scenes another notable element of these two pictures is the presence of a delicately painted still life. David depicts a bread roll, an apple and a knife in the bottom right corner, as well as a small vase of flowers, a basket and a book beneath an open window. Benson, in the present work, similarly includes a bread roll with a bunch of grapes and a wonderfully rendered maiolica jar of flowers, with lilies, irises and a rose. Such detailed still lifes are rare in Benson's work; comparable vases of flowers can be found in Virgin and Child with a parrot (collection of Mrs. A.E. van Beuningen-Charlouis, Vierhouten) and in The Holy Family (Cà d'Oro, Venice, on loan from the Galleria dell'Accademia). His mastery of a wide range of flora can be seen in the foreground of a number of altarpieces (for example Virgin and Child crowned by two angels, formerly in the collection of W. Peach, Amsterdam).