(Lovanio 1451/55–1549)
Christ Crowned with Thorns,
oil on panel, 38.5 x 30 cm, framed

Provenance:
Federico Zeri collection, Mentana (Rome);
Private European collection

We are grateful to Valentine Henderiks for suggesting the attribution after examining the present painting in the original and for her help in cataloguing this lot.

The present painting is a work intended for private devotion and is part of the development of the Devotio Moderna movement in the former Low Countries from the second half of the 15th century. Pictures for private devotion, generally small in size, showing a ‘close up’ sacred portrait, as well as portraits of Christ, were popular subjects among the faithful. Dirk Bouts (circa 1415-1475), and after him his son Albrecht, who took over his father’s workshop at the turn of the 15th century, are celebrated for their invention and subsequently considerable production of Christ of Sorrows intended for private devotion.

In 1956, Erwin Panofsky proposed attributing to Dirk Bouts the creation of this type of portrait of the head and shoulders of Christ which, originally, formed a pair with the mourning Virgin (see E. Panofsky, Jean Hey’s ‚Ecce Homo‘. Speculations about its author, its donor and its iconography, in: Bulletin / Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, 5, 1956, pp. 95-138). His references were the Christ Crowned with Thorns and the Mater Dolorosa at the National Gallery, London (inv. no. NG 711-712). Dirk Bouts innovated in several aspects the representation of Christ as he was the first to combine the frontal type of the Holy Face with an expression of suffering derived from the Man of Sorrows. He introduced new elements of emotions such as the tears that confer the greater humanity of Christ. Lastly, the position of the Lord‘s hands, resting on the frame as if he were at a window, magnifies his divine character with great simplicity. By touching the limit of the outside world, he invites the believer to enter the sacred space of the painting.

The present painting is noteworthy for the meticulous way in which the light effects are painted on the crown of thorns and hair, in the form of fine, white, closely-painted touches. The same attention can be observed in the tears, drops of blood and pupils, structured with little touches of white lead. In the red garment, the addition of white lead to translate the light on the crest of the folds is more apparent on the surface and no graphic touch enhances the contours of the drape. This technique, slightly more simplified than in the works painted during the first half of the 15th century, suggests a later painting, in the last quarter of the century.