Title

Tryptych of the Virgin and Child with Saints Catherine and Barbara

Master of the Magdalen Legend [attributed to] (Active in Brussels in the late 15th and early 16th centuries)

Generic classification

Object

Date

Century

Cultural context / style

Dimensions

Material

Technique

Iconography / Theme

Provenance

Current location

Inventory Number in Current Collection

Inscriptions / Marks

On the back of the central panel is the inscription: MASTRE ALONSO DE CANTALAPIEDRA FUSTERO.

Object history

When this triptych was exhibited in 1902 at the exhibition *Les Primitifs flamands* (no. 174) in Bruges, the artist’s identity was unknown. However, based on the work of Friedländer, Hulin de Loo (1902) and Durand-Gréville (1902) attributed the panels to the Master of the Legend of Mary Magdalene, a painter active in Brussels in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. This attribution was ratified shortly thereafter by Friedländer himself (1903), who confirmed that the style of the panels matched that of The Sermon of Mary Magdalene and Mary Magdalene Before Her Conversion, paintings that served to name the master. Subsequent studies, such as those by Tombu (1929), have allowed the triptych to be dated to between 1490 and 1510.

Thanks to the inscription MASTRE ALONSO DE CANTALAPIEDRA FUSTERO located on the back of the central panel, we know that the triptych was in Salamanca in the 16th century. However, we do not know to whom it belonged after passing through the hands of the Salamancan cabinetmaker. The format of the piece and the intimate nature of the half-length figures suggest that it was likely commissioned for private use. Two triptychs (Virgin and Child, the Crucifixion and Saint Peter with a Donor, and Virgin and Child with Angel Musicians) are preserved in Burgos Cathedral and have been attributed to the Master of the Legend of the Magdalene, confirming the presence of his works in the Castilian region.

The triptych was later in a private collection in Italy (Stroo and Veronee-Verhaegen, 2003) and was sold in the late 19th century by J. Goldberg, a French decorator and antique dealer (Merino de Cáceres and Martínez Ruiz, 2012). The collector Fritz Mayer van den Bergh purchased the triptych from Goldberg in 1900; in fact, he hung it on the wall of his studio that same year. After Fritz’s death, his collection became the core of the Mayer van den Bergh Museum’s holdings.

Description

The triptych retains the original panels crafted by the cabinetmaker Alonso de Cantalapiedra. However, the yellowish varnish on the paintings and the gilding on the frame are not original. Thanks to infrared reflectography, an underlying drawing has been discovered showing changes in the figure of Saint Barbara, as well as in the face and hand of the Virgin (Stroo and Veronee-Verhaegen, 2003). In the central panel, the Virgin—wrapped in a blue mantle—holds the Child, who makes a gesture of blessing. Two angels hold a crown above Mary’s head, and above her appear God the Father and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. The landscape in the background continues onto the side panels, where Saint Catherine is on the left and Saint Barbara on the right. Both are depicted in half-length with their attributes: in the case of the former, a sword and a wheel, while Saint Barbara has a tower in the background and holds a palm of martyrdom and a book. This work is reminiscent of others by the Master of the Legend of Mary Magdalene, such as Virgin and Child (Wallace Collection, London), or by followers of Rogier van der Weyden, such as Virgin and Child with a Carnation (Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Ghent).

Locations

• Last quarter of the XV^th c. - XVI^th c.

  province

  Brussels, Brussels (Belgium)

• XVI^th c.

  province

  Salamanca, Salamanca (Spain)

• Last quarter of the XIX^th c.

  private collection

  Private collection, Italy, Italy (Italy) *

• XIX^th c. - ca. 1900

  dealer/antiquarian

  J. Goldberg, Paris (France) *

• ca. 1900 - 1901

  private collection

  Fritz Mayer van den Bergh, Antwerp (Belgium) *

• ca. 1901 - present

  museum

  Museum Fritz Mayer van den Bergh, Antwerp (Belgium)