Schützmantelmadonna

Details

School of Cologne, circa 1450-60
Schützmantelmadonna
oil on panel
35 7/8 x 32 1/8 in. (91.1 x 81.6 cm.)
with the number WRM 117 stamped on the reverse and with the label Wallraf-Richartz Museum Inventar 1925, no. 103 also on the reverse.

Provenance

Painted as the right wing of a triptych of the Crucifixion, probably for the Church of the Apostle, Cologne.
The triptych was acquired by Ferdinand Franz Wallraf in 1816 and bequeathed in 1824 to the Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne, from where acquired directly by the father of the present owner in 1943.

Literature

Verzeichnis der Gemälde des Wallraf- Richartz Museums der Stadt, Cologne, 1915, p. 44, no. 117.
Die Gemälde der Altdeutsche Meister, I, Wallraf-Richartz Museum der Hansestadt, Cologne, 1939, no. 103, illustrated.
A. Stange, Deutsche Malerei der Gotik, 1952, p. 50, fig. 106, as 'Meister der Schutzmantelmadonna'.
A. Stange, Kritisches Verzichnis der deutschen Tafelbilder vor Dürer, I, 1967, p. 48/9, no. 114c.
Vollständiges Verzeichnis der Gemäldesammlung, 1986, p. 308, WRM 103, as sold in 1943.
H. Kier and F. G. Zehnder ed., Lust und Verlust II, Corpus band zu Kölner Gemäldesammlungen 1800-1860, Cologne, 1995, p. 114, no. 91, illustrated.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium, which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

As pointed out by Stange (loc. cit., 1967) this picture once formed part of a now-dismantled altarpiece, that originated from the Church of the Apostle in Cologne and which is believed to have been painted for that church in 1455. The altarpiece represented the Crucifixion with the Apostles in the central compartment and front of the wings; Saint Mary of Egypt and Noli me Tangere forming the back of the left wing, while the present picture formed the back of the right wing. When the altarpiece was in the museum, the front and the back of the panel that showed Saint Mary and Noli me Tangere were split into two separate panels, and then positioned on either side of the present panel. For the reconstruction of this altarpiece and its origins, see J. Büchner, 'Ein Altar aus der Lochner - Nachfolge in Köln', in Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch, XXII, 1060, p. 165 ff.

The altarpiece was acquired from the St. Aposteln church by Ferdinand Franz Wallraf in 1816. In 1824 it formed part of his bequest to the museum, then renamed the Wallraf-Richartz Museum. The altarpiece had probably already been dismantled before it entered the museum collection.

The panels of Saint Mary of Egypt and Noli me Tangere were deaccessioned with the present picture in 1943. Those are now in a private collection in Düsseldorf (see Lust und Verlust, p. 109, no. 58, illustrated).

The identity of the painter of the Apostelaltar is as yet unknown. As Stange has suggested, he is to be regarded as a somewhat conservative painter for his own day, reflecting the influence of Stefan Lochner and probably having trained in the workshop of the Master of the Life of the Virgin.

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