Title

The Lamentation

Master of the Prado Redemption

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Object history

This panel belonged to the well-known Belgian collector Fritz Mayer van den Bergh, born in Antwerp into a wealthy family with an interest in collecting antique art. After his untimely death in 1901, his mother, Henriëtte Mayer van den Bergh, took care of the construction of a building to house his collection, thus establishing the Museum Mayer van den Bergh in Antwerp in 1904, in which the piece under study was integrated. The ridder Mayer van den Bergh had acquired it in 1899 from a certain 'M. Bligny' (Mr Bligny) of Paris, from whom he also acquired in 1900 a Madonna and Child with a Pear by the Master of Frankfurt (inv. no MMB.0188.1). The identity of this Mr. Bligny is obscure: Danielle Gaborit-Chopin and Juliette Levy-Hinstin identify him, in connection with a Virgin and Child in ivory exhibited in 1884 in Rouen as his property, with a certain Paul Essonville-Bligny, 'ancien agent de change à Paris' (former stockbroker in Paris). The second issue of the Annuaire artistique des collectionneurs published by the painter Oscar-Edmond Ris-Paquot, corresponding to 1883-84, includes, among the Paris collectors, M. Bligny-d'Essonville, 'membre du Comité du musée des arts décoratifs'. This is most likely the individual of this name who is listed on genealogical websites as born in 1828 in Rouen and deceased in 1916. The above-mentioned yearbook locates him at No 84, avenue des Champs-Élysées, while the correspondence kept in the Museum Mayer van den Bergh to which we will refer below locates him in 1899 at No 148, rue de Courcelles.

Ridder Mayer van den Bergh had a genuine interest not only in accumulating works of art, but also in determining their correct attribution and in knowing their history. In this regard, a letter sent by 'M. Bligny' to the ridder Mayer van den Bergh on December 14, 1899, a few days after the purchase of the Lamentation in question was closed, reads as follows: 'Ce tableau vient de Valladolid. De quelle église ? impossible de me le rappeler. Il y en a tant dans cette ville si intéressante. Et puis il y a près de 23 ans que je l’ai acheté et mes souvenirs sont bien incertains. J’aurais q.q. détails assez mystérieux à vous raconter au sujet de cette acquisition ; mais mon était de santé (on me défend d’écrire) ne me permet pas de le faire. Si j’ai l’honneur de vous revoir, ce que j’espère bien, je me ferai un plaisir de vous dire tout cela de vive voix' (This painting comes from Valladolid. From which church? I cannot remember. There are so many in this interesting city. And then, I bought it nearly 23 years ago and my memories are quite uncertain. I would have some rather mysterious details to tell you about this acquisition, but my state of health (I am forbidden to write) prevents me from doing so. If I have the honor of seeing you again, which I sincerely hope, I will be delighted to tell you all about it my voice). The letter, preserved in the archives of the Museum Mayer van den Bergh (inv. no. MMB.A.1014), was kindly provided to us by Rita Van Dooren, curator of the museum.

News about provenance coming from art market agents should always be taken with caution, but, in this case, the news seems reliable. Like many of his contemporaries (starting with the ridder Mayer van den Bergh himself), Mr Bligny had in his person the double facet of collector and dealer, but he was, above all, a collector (as it appears in the 1883-84 yearbook). Moreover, in his letter of December 14, 1899, Mr Bligny refers in detail to other acquisitions he had made in Spain. These circumstances make his information creditable, although, unfortunately, we do not have, for the moment, indications about the church in Valladolid where this painting could have been. Jozef de Coo (1906-1998), who was curator of the Museum Mayer van den Bergh, tried unsuccessfully to track it down in the middle of the 20^th century, according to a letter dated February 13, 1958, kept in the archives of the Museum Mayer van den Bergh, also provided to us by Rita Van Dooren: 'Ik heb daarover zeer onlangs met Spanje gecorrespondeerd evenwel zonder resultaat' (I have recently been corresponding with Spain about it, but to no avail).

Description

Fritz Mayer van den Bergh acquired the panel as a work by Rogier van der Weyden and it is listed as such in the museum's first catalogue, published in 1904. In his letter, Mr Bligny assured the ridder Mayer van den Bergh that he had never doubted its authenticity and, for his assurance, enclosed photographs of two works by Van der Weyden to which the Lamentation was related: a Crucifixion from the monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial (now in the Museo Nacional del Prado, inv. no P001886, and now considered an anonymous work from c. 1510) and the inevitable Descent from the Cross from the Museo Nacional del Prado (inv. no. P002825). However, shortly afterwards Max Jakob Friedländer attributed it to a follower of Van der Weyden and Georges Hulin de Loo included it in the group of works of complicated historiography whose authorship is currently identified under the name of 'Master of the Prado Redemption', closely related to Van der Weyden.

The work shows the well-known theme of the Lamentation over the dead body of Christ once He has been descended from the cross. On a neutral golden background on which the foot of the cross stands out, Mary, assisted by St John the Evangelist, holds and embraces the lifeless body of her Son with restrained emotion while, in the background, the holy women make more expressive gestures. Without going into detail on the whole list of Rogerian quotations that could be pointed out in this painting, we can point out that the composition derives from Rogier van der Weyden's Pietà in the Musées royaux des Beaxu-Arts de Belgique in Brussels (inv. no. 3515) or that some of the figures depend on the Descent from the Cross by the same artist in the Museo Nacional del Prado, but, as Cyriel Stroo and Nicole Goetghebeur point out in the Museum Mayer van den Bergh's 2003 catalogue of Early Netherlandish paintings, the result of this collection of quotations is a somewhat flimsy work in which many of the figures have lost the emotional intensity of their prototypes. Even so, it is undoubtedly a remarkable work.

Locations

• ca. 1875

  province

  Possible origin in the city of Valladolid, Valladolid (Spain)

• ca. 1875 - 1899

  private collection

  Paul Essonville-Bligny, Paris (France) *

• 1899 - 1904

  private collection

  Fritz Mayer van den Bergh, Antwerp (Belgium) *

• 1904 - present

  museum

  Museum Fritz Mayer van den Bergh, Antwerp (Belgium)