(Antwerp active circa 1520)
Lucretia,
oil on panel, 45 x 30 cm, framed

Provenance:
sale, Sotheby’s, London, 10 December 1975, lot 162 (as The Master with the Parrot);
Federico Zeri collection, Mentana (Rome);
Private European collection

We are grateful to Peter van den Brink for suggesting the attribution of the present painting on the basis of a high-resolution digital photograph.

The Master of the Parrot was tied to the Northern Renaissance, but also influenced by Spanish spirituality. The name by which he is known was given to him by Max Friedländer (see M. J. Friedländer, Der Meister mit dem Papagei, in: Phoebus, 1948/49, vol. 2, pp. 49-54), who formulated the moniker after the exotic bird held by Christ in the arms of the Virgin, in various pictures, such as the painting in the San Diego Art Museum (inv. no. 1943.21).

The present painting can be compared to the artists other treatments of Lucretia, such as the work in the Museo del Prado (inv. no. P001946) and the one in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (see fig. 1). In each, the image shows Lucretia alone, outlined against a dark ground; the ornate dagger she holds against her chest and also the rendering of the folds of her transparent and almost impalpable under-robe are the same.

Each of these paintings share a similar quality of drama which is made clear by Lucretia’s expression, but also by a certain courtly appeal, that in the present panel is rendered even more effective by the play of the drape that unveils the scene. The practice of repeated compositions, without loss of quality, is frequent in the production of the Master of the Parrot (see M. Díaz Padrón, Una tercera réplica del ‘Suicidio de Lucrecia’ del Maestro del papagayo, del Museo del Prado, atribuida a Lucas Cranach, in: Boletín del Museo del Prado, Madrid 1988, vol. 9, pp. 29-32).