Lot 1519 Nα

This panel depicts the Last Judgement in two registers, as was customary in the 16th century. In the upper register, Christ sits enthroned on a globe in the centre holding both hands aloft to reveal the stigmata. Mary kneels on his right and John the Evangelist on his left to form the Deesis, as intercessors for mankind. Christ is flanked by the apostles, who are also present at the last judgement. Two angels hold the lily of grace and the sword of judgement and two other angels blow the trumpet. Christ appears in an aureola shining in bright yellow and red. In the centre of the lower register we see the Archangel Michael holding the sword and the balance. On the heraldic right side we see the saved. They rise, partly with the help of angels, from their graves, some with their hands folded in prayer, others looking disbelieving, others stretching as if awakening from sleep. On the heraldic left side we see the damned being dragged to hell by creatures with the heads of animals and birds, the background shining in the red of hell fire.
This impressive panel was ascribed to Pieter Aertsen by Wouter Kloek of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and dated to around 1550-55 when it first appeared and was auctioned on the London art market barely a decade ago. In this work, Aertsen follows the great tradition of the depiction of the last judgement, as it was established in the Netherlands in the early 16th century, above all he is inspired by the works of Lucas van Leiden (ca. 1526) and Barend van Orley (ca. 1525). Jan van Hemessen's composition probably served as a direct model for Aertsen. The Antwerp artist, familiar with the art of the High Renaissance in Rome through his sojourn to Italy, painted a last judgement scene for Adrien Rockox in 1536/37, which must have made a great impression in Antwerp. Pieter Aertsen followed van Hemessen's example in the composition, the colour palette, but also partly in the design of the figures. Interestingly, a comparable representation of the Last Judgement by Aert Pietersz., the son of Pieter Aertsen, has been preserved, which seems to refer to the present composition. It was made almost half a century later, in 1611, and accordingly shows stylistic differences, but also reveals parallels in the overall composition as well as in the design of individual figures (fig. 1, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inv. no. SK-A-2538).
Pieter Aertsen is best known for his still lifes and genre scenes; he is regarded as the founder of Flemish still life painting. It has rightly been noted that this represents a too narrow of the view of the artist and does not do justice to the significance that altarpieces like this one had within his oeuvre.