ATTRIBUÉ À AMBROSIUS BENSON (LOMBARDIE VERS 1495-1550 BRUGES)

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€ 201 600
Auction dateClassic
15.11.2023 14:30UTC +02:00
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CHRISTIE'S
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France, Paris
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ID 1071547
Lot 6 | ATTRIBUÉ À AMBROSIUS BENSON (LOMBARDIE VERS 1495-1550 BRUGES)
ATTRIBUÉ À AMBROSIUS BENSON (LOMBARDIE VERS 1495-1550 BRUGES)

L'Adoration des mages

huile sur panneau

109 x 97 cm. (42.15⁄16 x 38 3⁄16 in.)





Provenance

Dr. A. K. Gardiner, New York (selon le catalogue de vente de 1927, op. cit. infra).

Dr. John E. Stillwell (1853-1930), New York ; sa vente, American Art Association, The Anderson Galleries, New York, 1er décembre 1927, lot 199 (comme 'Ambrosius Benson').

F. Kleinberger, Paris et New York, en 1929 ; sa vente, American Art Association, New York, 18 novembre 1932, lot 42 (comme 'Ambrosius Benson').

Frits Philips (1905-2005), Eindhoven ; sa vente, Sotheby Mak van Waay, Amsterdam, 5 décembre 2006, lot 446 (comme 'studio of Ambrosius Benson').

Galleria Luigi Caretto, Turin (comme 'Ambrosius Benson').

Collection particulière, Italie.



Literature

The Burlington Magazine, avril 1929, 54, 313, s. p., reproduit en noir et blanc (comme 'Ambrosius Benson') (selon un extrait conservé à la Documentation des peintures du Louvre).

C. Burrows, 'Exhibition of Flemish Primitive Painting', Parnassus, novembre 1929, I, VII, p. 9 (comme 'Ambrosius Benson').

J. Shapley, 'The Antwerp Exhibition of Old Flemish Art', Parnassus, novembre 1930, II, VII, p. 8 (comme 'Ambrosius Benson').

International Studio, juillet 1930, XCVI, reproduit en noir et blanc p. 66 (comme 'Ambrosius Benson').

Collectif, Trésor de l'art flamand du Moyen âge au XVIIIe siècle. Mémorial de l'exposition d'art flamand à Anvers 1930, Paris, 1932, I, p. 98, n°10 (comme 'Ambrosius Benson').

G. Marlier, Ambrosius Benson et la peinture à Bruges au temps de Charles-Quint, Damme, 1957, pp. 206-207 et p. 289, n°26 (comme 'Ambrosius Benson'), reproduit pl. XI.



Exhibited

New York, F. Kleinberger Galleries, A loan exhibition of Flemish Primitives in aid of the Free Milk Fund for Babies, Inc., 26 octobre-16 novembre 1929, n°61 (comme 'Ambrosius Benson').

Anvers, Exposition internationale coloniale, maritime et d'art flamand. Section d'art flamand ancien, juin-septembre 1930, n°10 (comme 'Ambrosius Benson').



Further Details

ATTRIBUTED TO AMBROSIUS BENSON, THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI, OIL ON PANEL

Originally from Lombardy, Ambrosius Benson (c. 1495-1550) became a citizen of Bruges in 1518, where he first worked in the studio of Gérard David (1460-1536) before establishing himself as an independent master in 1519. The artist quickly achieved great success. His style, a combination of David's pictorial language and a brighter colour palette imported from his native Lombardy, was much appreciated both in his adopted country and in Spain, the links between Bruges and Castile being strong at the time thanks to the wool trade. However, in the centuries following his death, Benson's paintings were dispersed and his identity became unclear. It was only at the beginning of the Twentieth Century, with the great expert Max Friedländer (1867-1958), that Benson's oeuvre was gradually reconstituted. Friedländer first made the connection between the Altar of Saint Anthony of Padua (Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, inv. no. 4129) signed with the artist's monogram 'AB', and a group of paintings in Spain previously given to the 'Master of Segovia'. Using this nucleus, he created a coherent body of work for the artist. As Georges Marlier (1898-1968) observed, Friedländer attributed several Adorations to Benson that are now considered to be the work of his entourage. However, this is not the case for the present painting, which he believed remains the work of Benson himself (see G. Marlier, 1957, op. cit., pp. 206-207).

This Adoration incorporates many influences from works that Benson would have had the opportunity to study in Bruges. The Virgin and Child, as well as Melchior, seen in a green cloak in the centre of the composition, are almost a mirror image of the figures in David’s Adoration in the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels (inv. no. 740). Balthasar, who is standing on the right, evokes the model of the young magi in the Monforte Altarpiece, a painting by Hugo van der Goes (c. 1430/1440-1482) now in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin (inv. no. 1718). There are also echoes of other paintings by Benson himself. The Virgin's face is related to that of the Magdalene from the Pietà in the San Francisco Museum of Fine Arts (inv. no. 1956.90), and St Joseph's face is of the same type as the St John the Evangelist from his Pentecost in the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh (inv. no. G.52.11.1). Benson combines these elements with great fluidity in a remarkably open composition, lending the painting a notable sense of grace.
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