Title
The Nativity Polyptych
Weyden, Rogier van der [circle of]
Generic classification
PaintingObject
PaintingDate
c. 1451-1460Century
Mid 15th c.Cultural context / style
Flemish paintingDimensions
59 3/4 in. × 9 ftMaterial
PaperTechnique
Oil PaintingIconography / Theme
Nacimiento de CristoProvenance
Convent of Segovia (Segovia, Spain)Current location
The Cloisters. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, United States)Inventory Number in Current Collection
49.109Inscriptions / Marks
Banderole of Tiburtine Sybil: Cor Contritum non despicies […] (you will not look down upon a contrite soul [Psalm 50:19])
Banderole of Virgin and Child): quodcumque dixerit vobis facite. J […] (Whatever he will have assigned to you all, do). John 2, 5.
Banderole of baby Jesus to Magi: […] Bre […] d es […] A […].
Object history
We do not know the history of the polyptych until the mid-19th century, when it was in an unidentified convent in Segovia. This information was reported by Passavant in 1843, when the work was in his possession—or had passed through his hands—from the artist and art dealer Roberto Frassinelli (1811–1879), a German who settled in Spain and eventually moved to Asturias after his marriage. Frassinelli sent the set to Stuttgart around 1483—apparently only the panels now at the MET, as the others must have already been separated or were dismantled at that time. Ownership soon passed to John Dunn Gardner, an English politician and landowner (1811–1903), who kept the work at Bottisham Hall, Cambridgeshire, until 1854. On March 25 of that year, it was put up for sale at Christie’s and, through P. & D. Colnaghi & Co. of London, passed to James Carnegie, 9th Earl of Southesk, who kept it at his estate, Kinnaird Castle, near Brechin, in Scotland. Upon his death in 1905, his successor, the 10th Earl of Southesk, Charles Noel Carnegie (1905–1941, and the 11th Earl, Charles Noel Carnegie, retained possession of the painting until the latter sold it to Roland, Browse & Delbanco of London in 1948. That same year, the painting was acquired by the firm Thomas Agnew & Sons, also in London, until it was purchased by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1949.
Description
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, at The Cloisters, houses—though not on permanent display—a Flemish polyptych that has been attributed to the workshop of Rogier van der Weyden. As it is currently arranged, it consists of a central panel in the shape of an inverted T, two smaller side panels, and two even smaller panels at the top.
The central panel depicts several scenes, among which the Nativity of Christ stands out. On either side are events contemporary to the Nativity but set far apart in space: on the left is the Roman emperor Octavian Caesar Augustus accompanied by the Tiburtine Sibyl, and in the sky, the Virgin and Child; on the right, the Three Wise Men prostrate themselves before the appearance of the Redeemer in an oculus, while in the background the three figures prepare to take a bath. The side panels depict the Visitation on the left and, at the other end of the panel, the Epiphany. Crowning this central panel is the figure of God the Father with two angels—heavenly beings who also appear on the two small panels placed above the central one. When the altarpiece was closed, the backs of the panels were visible, featuring paintings of saints: Saint John the Baptist, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Saint John the Evangelist, and a fourth whose identity is unknown. The two small panels at the top feature, on their reverse sides, the scene of the Expulsion from Paradise, with the angel armed with a sword on one panel and Adam and Eve, naked, on the other.
Although this is what is preserved at The Cloisters, we know that in addition to the missing saint, the altarpiece originally had two other panels: the Annunciation, whose reverse-side painting has been lost and is now in the collection of The National Trust in the United Kingdom (see entry no. 573), and the Circumcision, with the painting on the reverse depicting Saint John the Evangelist, in a private collection in Madrid. The reconstruction of the set proposed by the MET is not universally accepted by all researchers.
Thanks to dendrochronology, we know that the panels on which the paintings were executed are made of Baltic oak, harvested from 1451 onward (the frame is not original). The painting follows the style of Rogier van der Weyden, although it is impossible to determine, based on current knowledge, whether it is a workshop piece or the work of one of his various followers. The scenes depicted on the central panel follow the model established by Van der Weyden in the Nativity Triptych (Middelburg Altarpiece), which the artist created for Pieter Bladelin, treasurer to Duke Philip the Good, in the late 1440s (Berlin, Gemäldegalerie). Both the scene of Emperor Augustus (a story taken from the Golden Legend) and the Nativity in a hut, as well as Christ’s appearance to the Magi, are repeated in the MET’s panel; even the phylacteries are found in the underdrawing of the Berlin panel. The main difference, aside from the quality, is that in the Berlin painting, the treasurer Bladelin appears kneeling, whereas in the MET’s version there is no donor. Nor do the banners emerging from the Tiburtine Sibyl—which partially reproduce Psalm 51 (50), 19, and from the tondo of the Virgin and Child, *Quodcumque dixerit vobis facite* (Do whatever He tells you), taken from the Gospel of St. John, 2:5, at the Wedding at Cana. The phylactery extending from the Child toward the Magi bears no inscription. All of this, together with the depiction of very common saints, makes it impossible to determine for whom the ensemble was created, and it is reasonable to assume that it was not a commission but was painted for a market eager for this type of composition.
Locations
ca. 1843
ca. 1843 - ca. 1844
private collection
Roberto Frassinelli, Madrid (Spain) *
ca. 1844 - 1854
private collection
John Dunn Gardner, Bottisham Hall, Cambridgeshire (United Kingdom) *
1854
auction house
Christie's, London, London (United Kingdom)
1854
dealer/antiquarian
P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London (United Kingdom) *
1854 - 1948
1948
dealer/antiquarian
Roland, Browse & Delbanco, London (United Kingdom) *
1948 - 1949
dealer/antiquarian
Thomas Agnew & Sons, London (United Kingdom) *
1949 - present
Bibliography
- (1854): Catalogue of the very choice collection of pictures of the highest quality., nº 65, Christie's, Londres, p. 8.
- AINSWORTH, Maryan (2023): "The Nativity Polytich", en Catálogo de obras online del Meropolitan Museum de Nueva York.
- AINSWORTH, Maryan (1998): "The Business of Art: Patrons, Clients, and Art Markets", en AINSWORTH, Maryan y CHRISTIANSEN, Keith (eds.), From Van Eyck to Bruegel: Early Netherlandish Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nueva York.
- BAES-DONDEYNE, Marguerite (1969): "Een teruggevonden Luik van het Brussels Geboorteretabel uit "The Cloisters" te New York", vol. 11, en Bulletin van het Koninklijk Instituut voor het Kunstpatrimonium, pp. 93-108.
- PASSAVANT, J. D. (1843): "Beiträge zur Kenntniß der alt-niederländischen Malerschulen bis zur Mitte des Sechszehnten Jahrhunderts", nº 61, en Morgenblatt für gebildete Stände / Kunstblatt, p. 253.
- RORIMER, J. J. (1950): "'Reports of the Departments,' Incorporating the Eightieth Annual Report of the Trustees for the Year 1949", vol. 9, nº 1, en The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, p. 23.
- RORIMER, James J. (1963): The Cloisters: The Building and the Collection of Medieval Art in Fort Tryon Park, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nueva York.
- ROUSSEAU, Jr., Theodore (1951): "A Flemish Altarpiece from Spain", vol. 9, nº 10, en The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, pp. 270-283.
Record manager
Miguel Ángel ZalamaCitation:
Miguel Ángel Zalama, "The Nativity Polyptych" in Nostra et Mundi. Cultural Heritage from Castile and Leon around the world, Fundación Castilla y León, 2025. https://inventario.nostraetmundi.com/en/work/570
The Nativity Polyptych
