The Crucifixion

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.