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Lot Essay
The painting depicts the most commonly represented tale pertaining to Saint Christopher, as recounted in the Golden Legend. One day, while in the company of a Canaanite king, Christopher had the idea to find and serve “the greatest prince in the world.” Before long he was seeking Christ, and during this quest encountered a hermit who instructed him in the Christian faith. In light of Christopher’s imposing stature, the hermit recommended that he make it his duty to carry the poor and sick across a treacherous river, an act that would greatly please Christ. After many days of performing this task, Christopher heard a child calling him from the riverbank; as he carried him across, the boy grew heavier and the water rougher with every step. Once they had made it safely across, the child revealed himself to be Christ, saying to Christopher: “You were not only carrying the whole world, you had him who created the world upon your shoulders!”
The subject of Saint Christopher carrying Christ offered 16th-century Netherlandish artists an opportunity to create sweeping, typically mysterious, vistas now referred to as weltlandschaften (“world landscapes”). Here, the commanding figure of the saint, his brow furrowed in concentration as he trudges through the river, dominates the composition. With one hand raised in blessing and the other resting on a globe, the infant Christ sits on his shoulders, his windswept mantle forming a dramatic pattern behind him. A similar nervous energy animates the sky, heavy with rain clouds that have caused a rainbow to appear on the horizon. Small whitecaps ripple across the crystalline water, home to a fleet of ships of varying sizes, some still safely anchored in the harbor of the town portrayed at left. A small shelter with a bell signals the arrival of travelers wishing to cross the river. Below sits the figure of the hermit studying his scriptures, his gray-blue cloak in harmony with his tempestuous surroundings. Among the composition’s many noteworthy details are the carefully rendered still-life elements of the foreground, from the foraging cranes to the delicate irises and lustrous shells.
Infrared reflectography of the panel (fig. 1) reveals a very free underdrawing executed in black chalk, a medium that was commonly used in Leiden in the early 16th century. Conversely, artists active in Antwerp during this period favored a wet medium painted with a brush for their underdrawings. Stylistically, the figures and facial types of Saint Christopher and the Christ Child, as well as the overall palette, are close to those found in the paintings of Cornelis Engebrechtsz., such as his Crucifixion triptych of c. 1515-1517 (Museum de Lakenhal, Leiden), in which the multitude of figures sport garments with similarly-agitated drapery folds. While developing his composition, the artist made multiple changes, including altering the position of Christ's face from frontal to three-quarters profile; lowering Christopher's mouth and making his chin and beard much fuller. Such changes often appear in the underdrawings of paintings by Engebrechtsz. and his workshop. Most fascinating is the sketchy treatment of the background landscape details, especially the mountain and city at upper left, which were only cursorily drawn in and worked out subsequently when the artist was painting this area. In 1970, on the basis of firsthand inspection, Maarten L. Wurfbain, the director of the Museum de Lakenhal, suggested that the author of the present work was Engebrechtsz.’s second son, Cornelis Cornelisz. Kunst (1493–1544), whom he believed was the artist responsible for most of the paintings given to the enigmatic painter, Jan Wellens de Cock (written communication, 17 September 1970). While the link between Cornelis and Jan has since been largely rejected by the scholarly community, Wurfbain’s attribution had much merit, since it correctly placed this remarkable painting in the context of Engebrecthsz.’s thriving workshop. We are grateful to Peter van den Brink for assisting in the cataloguing of this lot and for suggesting the attribution on the basis of a photograph (verbal communication, 16 March 2017).
The subject of Saint Christopher carrying Christ offered 16th-century Netherlandish artists an opportunity to create sweeping, typically mysterious, vistas now referred to as weltlandschaften (“world landscapes”). Here, the commanding figure of the saint, his brow furrowed in concentration as he trudges through the river, dominates the composition. With one hand raised in blessing and the other resting on a globe, the infant Christ sits on his shoulders, his windswept mantle forming a dramatic pattern behind him. A similar nervous energy animates the sky, heavy with rain clouds that have caused a rainbow to appear on the horizon. Small whitecaps ripple across the crystalline water, home to a fleet of ships of varying sizes, some still safely anchored in the harbor of the town portrayed at left. A small shelter with a bell signals the arrival of travelers wishing to cross the river. Below sits the figure of the hermit studying his scriptures, his gray-blue cloak in harmony with his tempestuous surroundings. Among the composition’s many noteworthy details are the carefully rendered still-life elements of the foreground, from the foraging cranes to the delicate irises and lustrous shells.
Infrared reflectography of the panel (fig. 1) reveals a very free underdrawing executed in black chalk, a medium that was commonly used in Leiden in the early 16th century. Conversely, artists active in Antwerp during this period favored a wet medium painted with a brush for their underdrawings. Stylistically, the figures and facial types of Saint Christopher and the Christ Child, as well as the overall palette, are close to those found in the paintings of Cornelis Engebrechtsz., such as his Crucifixion triptych of c. 1515-1517 (Museum de Lakenhal, Leiden), in which the multitude of figures sport garments with similarly-agitated drapery folds. While developing his composition, the artist made multiple changes, including altering the position of Christ's face from frontal to three-quarters profile; lowering Christopher's mouth and making his chin and beard much fuller. Such changes often appear in the underdrawings of paintings by Engebrechtsz. and his workshop. Most fascinating is the sketchy treatment of the background landscape details, especially the mountain and city at upper left, which were only cursorily drawn in and worked out subsequently when the artist was painting this area. In 1970, on the basis of firsthand inspection, Maarten L. Wurfbain, the director of the Museum de Lakenhal, suggested that the author of the present work was Engebrechtsz.’s second son, Cornelis Cornelisz. Kunst (1493–1544), whom he believed was the artist responsible for most of the paintings given to the enigmatic painter, Jan Wellens de Cock (written communication, 17 September 1970). While the link between Cornelis and Jan has since been largely rejected by the scholarly community, Wurfbain’s attribution had much merit, since it correctly placed this remarkable painting in the context of Engebrecthsz.’s thriving workshop. We are grateful to Peter van den Brink for assisting in the cataloguing of this lot and for suggesting the attribution on the basis of a photograph (verbal communication, 16 March 2017).