Follower of the “Master of 1499” (late XNUMXth – early XNUMXth century), Christ Blessing

Follower of the “Master of 1499” (late XNUMXth – early XNUMXth century)

Blessing Christ

Oil on copper, 29 x 28 cm

The present work, a small painting on copper made in the mid-1499th century, shows substantial reminiscences of some faces of Christ painted in the early 1499th century in the area between Antwerp and Ghent. In particular, it recalls the portrait types of an anonymous painter from the Southern Netherlands active around the end of the 1499th century known as “De Meester van XNUMX” (late XNUMXth – early XNUMXth century). The artist owes his nickname to the work that is certainly attributed to him, the Diptych of Abbot Christiaan de Hondt, now in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp. On the back, this masterpiece by the master is signed with the date XNUMX, which gave it its emergency name. In addition to this diptych, a second work can be attributed to him with considerable certainty, namely the Diptych of the Annunciation in the Gemäldegalerie of the Staatliche Museen in Berlin. Both diptychs are rather small in size for an oil painting and are reminiscent of miniatures. Bodo Brinkman suggested that the Master of XNUMX would also have been the author of a miniature with the Madonna in the Hastings Tides and thus places him as a miniaturist who was part of the Ghent-Bruges school and, in addition to book illumination, also small diptychs for private devotion and possibly other painting.

Contrary to what his old emergency name of “Master of 1499” suggests, he is assumed to have worked in Ghent around 1500, although this is not certain. The influence of Hugo van der Goes, which art historians say can be found in his work, also points more to Ghent than to Bruges. See for comparison the Christ Salvator Mundi in a private collection in Budapest, the one in a private collection in London or the panel with the profile of Christ published in the RKD. The three works are registered as examples painted by a follower of the Master, but, as in our painting, they echo the elongated features of the face, the simplicity of the draperies of the red cloak and the general essentiality of the setting.

The object is in good condition