BRUSSELS, BRABANT, CIRCA 1495-1505

The present group is close to the work of the Borman family, in particular Jan Borman (fl.c.1479-1520), who ran a large and prolific workshop in Brussels at the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th century. The relief would have constituted the foremost part of an altarpiece, probably depicting the Passion, similar to the altar of the same subject at St Dymphne, Geel (Lefftz, loc. cit.). The distinctive craggy faces of the figures and busy scene with overlapping figures placed in raking perspective are typical of Borman's known work, including the majestic oak Altarpiece of Saint George (1493, Musées royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, Lefftz, loc. cit.). The dappled ground, and the rounded pins and detailing of the soldier's armour and helmet in the upper left of the present relief are also evident in works emanating from Borman's workshop, in which the Brussels tradition of Rogier van der Weyden is still visible in the deeply faceted late-gothic drapery.

Our relief also closely resembles a relief of the The Crucifixion at Gressenhall, which is now in the Norwich Castle Museum (K. Woods, Imported Images: Netherlandish Late Gothic Sculpture in England c.1400-c.1550, 2007, p. 394).