Lot 12 | Bernard van Orley - Follower | Crucifixion Scene

ORLEY, BERNARD VAN
Brussels ca. 1488 - 1541

Follower

Title: Crucifixion Scene.
Technique: Oil on wood.
Measurement: 72,5 x 50cm.
Frame: Framed.

Provenance:
Private ownership, Germany.

The present work, of which the side panels have not been preserved, shows Jesus on the cross with Mary on the left and St. John on the right. God the Father and the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, are depicted above the crucifixion scene. Together with Christ they form a representation of the Holy Trinity. To the left and right of the cross, two other figures are depicted in grisaille on fields of clouds. On the left we see a woman with naked children, on the right is a woman putting a sword in its scabbard. The woman on the right is a personification of Justitia (Justice), the woman to the left depicts Caritas (Charity).
This painting by an unknown, but very artistically gifted author, reinterprets Bernard van Orley's Crucifixion triptych painted in c. 1525 for Margaretha of Austria (today located at Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen). In van Orley's painting, the artist had depicted the commissioner Margaretha and Isabella of Austria, wife of Christian II of Denmark on either side of the cross, as Caritas and Justitia. The present painting, which was intended for private devotion, has not handed down the identities of the commissioner. However, it betrays the great impact and fortune of van Orley's works, which were taken as models in Flanders throughout the 16th and 17th centuries.