Attributed to The Master of the Tiburtine Sibyl (active Leuven and Haarlem, c. 1480-1485)
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Attributed to The Master of the Tiburtine Sibyl (active Leuven and Haarlem, c. 1480-1485)

The Crucifixion

Details
Attributed to The Master of the Tiburtine Sibyl (active Leuven and Haarlem, c. 1480-1485)
The Crucifixion
oil on panel
35 7/8 x 28¼ in. (91 x 71½ cm.)
Provenance
with Galerie Giroux, Brussels, from where acquired circa 1950-3 by Chanoine Ernest de Spot, and by descent until
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 9 July 1998, lot 162, as Master of the Tiburtine Sibyl, where acquired by the present owner.
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

The Master of the Tiburtine Sibyl was so-named by Friedländer after the picture of The Tiburtine Sibyl and Emperor Augustus in the Städelsches Kunstinstitut in Frankfurt (no. 69; see M.J. Friedländer, Early Netherlandish Painting, III, revised ed., Leiden, 1968, pp. 41-2, 69, no. 74, pl. 84). This as-yet anonymous artist was active in Leuven and Haarlem in the last quarter of the 15th century, and was most probably a close kinsman of Dieric Bouts, with whom he is sometimes confused. Friedländer described this master as 'an excellent follower of Dieric'. Particularly characteristic is the foppish stance and tilted, arching back of the bearded nobleman with ermine-edged red garments in the present composition. Unlike the distinctively elongated and pointed shoes in the Frankfurt panel, which along with the clothing and ornament allows for a dating of before 1480, the shoes worn by the man on the far right of The Crucifixion are rounder, and are indicative of a later dating for this panel. It would seem, however, that this panel is earlier than the finer, more detailed, but similarly composed Crucifixion in the Detroit Institute of Arts (no. 41.126; Friedländer, op. cit., no. 77, pl. 87), which dates to around 1485-90.

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