Master of the Aachen Altarpiece, attributed to
The Virgin and Child with John the Baptist, John the Evangelist, and a Donor
Oil on panel (parquetted). 55.5 x 103 cm.
This landscape format panel depicts the Virgin with the Christ Child, John the Baptist with the Lamb of God, John the Evangelist with the poison chalice, and a prominently placed donor portrait. The depiction of the enthroned Madonna and the dimensions of the work make it unlikely that the piece originally formed the predella of an altar. It is more likely that the donor commissioned the piece as an epitaph to be displayed in a public place, such as the nave or side chapel of a church, following his death.
A since lost expertise by E. Buchner, written in 1999, described the panel as a “characteristic work by the Master of the Aachen Altarpiece'”. The work that he references is the crucifixion altarpiece by this master in Aachen cathedral treasury from which the anonymous painter received his notname.
Provenance
Private collection, Rhineland. - Auctioned by Bergmann, New York, 12.5.1949, lot 49. - Lempertz auction 454, Cologne, 3.6.1959, lot 1. - Galerie Scheidwimmer, Munich. - Collection of Prof. Alfred Mundhenk. - Lempertz auction 782, Cologne, 4.12.1999, lot 1283. - Subsequently in a German private collection.
Literature
Alfred Stange: Kritisches Verzeichnis der deutschen Tafelbilder vor Dürer, vol.1, Munich 1967, no. 331.
For this painter cf.: F. Anzelewsky: Zumr Problem des Meisters des Aaachener Altars, In: Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch, vol. XXX, Cologne 1968, p. 185-200. - F. Zehnder: Katalog der Altkölner Malerei (= Kataloge des Wallraf-Richartz-Museums, vol. XI), Cologne 1990, p. 417 f (with further literature).