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Lot Essay
This is a first compositional idea for the central panel of The Invention of the True Cross triptych in the Grote Kerk, Breda, executed circa 1535 (Fig. 1). There are important differences between the painting and the drawing. The latter, probably made at an early stage in the development of the composition, seems to combine the two episodes of The Finding and The Recognition of the True Cross, but Scorel went on to depict these on two separate panels in
the Breda altarpiece. Some parts of the drawing, like the group of the two men seen from the back and holding the Cross on the left, are actually closer to figures in the right panel of the altarpiece which
shows The Recognition of the True Cross, than to their counterparts in The Finding of the True Cross painted on the central panel. In the altarpiece itself the figures appear more monumental, filling more of the space than on this sheet, while the influence of the Italian
artists of the Renaissance is more pronounced.
The present sheet executed in van Scorels preferred medium of black ink and grey wash shows many features often found in other drawings by the artist such as the emphasized eyebrows and the elongated hands and feet. It is particularly close to Saint Paul on the Aeropagus in front of the Altar to the unknown God, in the Fondation Custodia, Paris, a drawing generally dated to circa 1540 (exhib. cat. Kunst voor de beeldenstorm..., op. cit., no. 111).
Fig. 1. Jan van Scorel, The Triptych of the Invention of the True Cross, Breda, Grote Kerk.
the Breda altarpiece. Some parts of the drawing, like the group of the two men seen from the back and holding the Cross on the left, are actually closer to figures in the right panel of the altarpiece which
shows The Recognition of the True Cross, than to their counterparts in The Finding of the True Cross painted on the central panel. In the altarpiece itself the figures appear more monumental, filling more of the space than on this sheet, while the influence of the Italian
artists of the Renaissance is more pronounced.
The present sheet executed in van Scorels preferred medium of black ink and grey wash shows many features often found in other drawings by the artist such as the emphasized eyebrows and the elongated hands and feet. It is particularly close to Saint Paul on the Aeropagus in front of the Altar to the unknown God, in the Fondation Custodia, Paris, a drawing generally dated to circa 1540 (exhib. cat. Kunst voor de beeldenstorm..., op. cit., no. 111).
Fig. 1. Jan van Scorel, The Triptych of the Invention of the True Cross, Breda, Grote Kerk.