.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Tentatively identified as the painter Hendrik van Wueluwe, active in Antwerp from 1483 until 1533, the Master of Frankfurt gained his notname after two large paintings commissioned by patrons originating in Frankfurt: the Altarpiece of the Holy Kinship made for the city’s Dominican church (Frankfurt, Historisches Museum; inv. no. 261), and the Crucifixion Triptych (Frankfurt, Städelsches Kunstinstitut; inv. no. 715) made for the patrician Humbracht family, some of whom were resident in Antwerp by 1503. Though a suggestion has been made that the master visited Frankfurt himself, the use of Baltic oak panels precludes his painting there indicating that the commissions were sought and made in Antwerp, the economic and cultural centre of the Netherlands during the early sixteenth century. The Master was an important proponent of the so-called ‘Antwerp Mannerist’ movement and ran a large, successful workshop. Indeed, his putative identification as de Wueluwe strengthens the painter’s prominence in the city, since he served as Dean of the Guild of Saint Luke six times, and is documented as having at least seven apprentices.
Triptychs showing the Adoration of the Magi on a scale roughly comparable to the present work, appear to have been regularly produced by the master and his workshop, catering for a range of patrons. Some, like that in the Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, were evidently significant commissions with the patron’s portrait included as the standing king (Balthasar) in the left wing of the altarpiece. The present triptych however, does not include a donor portrait, depicting Balthasar as the more traditional Moorish king. As with the Stuttgart picture and a number of other versions in Copenhagen, Guadaloupe and formerly in the William Serri collection, this triptych includes disguised portraits of the Emperor Frederick III (1415-1493), as the kneeling Melchior in the central panel; and of his son and heir, the Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1519), as Caspar in the right wing. The precise reason for the inclusion of these portraits is somewhat unclear and evidently not all were imperial commissions (especially so in the light of the donor’s portrait in Stuttgart). The probable reason for the inclusion can perhaps be attributed to a desire for the patrons to boast their loyalties to the imperial family. The scale of the present work would suggest that it was intended for at least a semi-public location, probably adorning the altar of a church side chapel. The inclusion of the emperors’ portraits would, perhaps, have been used to assert a family’s ties to imperial circles as well as to serve as a focus for prayers for the Habsburg line.
We are grateful to Till-Holger Borchert for suggesting the attribution to the Workshop of the Master of Frankfurt on the basis of photographs.
Triptychs showing the Adoration of the Magi on a scale roughly comparable to the present work, appear to have been regularly produced by the master and his workshop, catering for a range of patrons. Some, like that in the Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, were evidently significant commissions with the patron’s portrait included as the standing king (Balthasar) in the left wing of the altarpiece. The present triptych however, does not include a donor portrait, depicting Balthasar as the more traditional Moorish king. As with the Stuttgart picture and a number of other versions in Copenhagen, Guadaloupe and formerly in the William Serri collection, this triptych includes disguised portraits of the Emperor Frederick III (1415-1493), as the kneeling Melchior in the central panel; and of his son and heir, the Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1519), as Caspar in the right wing. The precise reason for the inclusion of these portraits is somewhat unclear and evidently not all were imperial commissions (especially so in the light of the donor’s portrait in Stuttgart). The probable reason for the inclusion can perhaps be attributed to a desire for the patrons to boast their loyalties to the imperial family. The scale of the present work would suggest that it was intended for at least a semi-public location, probably adorning the altar of a church side chapel. The inclusion of the emperors’ portraits would, perhaps, have been used to assert a family’s ties to imperial circles as well as to serve as a focus for prayers for the Habsburg line.
We are grateful to Till-Holger Borchert for suggesting the attribution to the Workshop of the Master of Frankfurt on the basis of photographs.