The Adoration of the Magi with Donors (added at a later date)
workshop of Master of the Saint Ursula Legend (Cologne) (fl.1485-1515)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1500
Materials
Oil on panel (arched top)
Measurements
787 x 787 mm (31 x 31 in)
Place of origin
Cologne
Order this imageCollection
Nostell Priory, West Yorkshire
NT 960229
Summary
Oil painting on panel, The Adoration of the Magi with Donors (added at later date), workshop of the Master of the Saint Ursula Legend (Cologne), circa 1500, previously attributed to the Master of St. Severin (fl Cologne, c.1485 – c.1515), carved into the wood, on reverse, in Gothic script: + E: Roper + / BANNARDS. GUILD; a label at the bottom, corresponding to the cataloguing of the painting in Brockwell: NOSTEL PRIORY no.311 / Artist German School. 1570 / Subject Adoration of Magi; on a circular label at the top: 3241. Not to be confused with Master of the Legend of Saint Ursula (Flemish) (active around 1470-1490).
Full description
A July 1857 letter in the Nostell archive from J.Hunter [probably Joseph Hunter 1783-1861, Ass't Keeper of Public Records & Shefffield antiquary] to Charles Winn (WYAS: A1.8.41) records: "Dear Sir, I heartily wish it were in my power to throw any light on your recent acquisition; but I am quite as much at a loss as you can be both in respect of the Arms and the Inscription – except that in respect of the latter I think it is not the name of any place, but of one of the Guilds of those times, known as Barnard’s Guild…..Are we to suppose that it was presented by S.Roper to this Barnard’s Guild? Nothing can I think be made out on the Arms or the cypher which appears to take the place of the 3rd roundel. I have shown it to a member of the Heraldry College who was unable to assist me….". Scientific analysis by the Hamilton Kerr Institute in 2016 revealed that the coat of arms, hat and gold chain worn by ‘Thomas More’ were added at a later date. This strongly suggests that these details were added to the painting, perhaps specifically to make it appeal to Charles Winn who was particualry interested in his family connections to Margaret Roper, daughter of Thomas More.
Provenance
Purchased by Charles Winn (1795-1874) from the collector-dealer J. B. Jarman (1782 -1864) in 1851, as ‘German School’ (with the inscription + E ROPER + / BANNARDS GVILD incised in the back of the panel, and the donor figures identified as Sir Thomas More and his wife from their coats of arms); thence by descent at Nostell Priory; purchased by the National Trust from Lord St Oswald in 2008, via private treaty, with funding from the Levy bequest
Makers and roles
workshop of Master of the Saint Ursula Legend (Cologne) (fl.1485-1515), artist previously catalogued as after Master of Saint Severin (fl. Cologne1485 – 1515), artist previously catalogued as attributed to German School, artist previously catalogued as after Master of the Saint Bartholomew Altarpiece (fl.1480-1510), artist
References
Brockwell 1915 Maurice Walter Brockwell, Catalogue of the Pictures and Other Works of Art in the Collection of Lord St Oswald at Nostell Priory, London 1915, no. 311 Backhouse 1968 Janet Backhouse, A Victorian Connoisseur and His Manuscripts: The Tale of Mr. Jarman and Mr. Wing, The British Museum Quarterly, Vol. 32, No. 3/4 (Spring, 1968), pp. 76-87. Corley 2000 Brigitte Corley Painting and Patronage in Cologne 1300-1500, Harvey Miller Publishers, Turnhout, 2000 Corley 2002 Brigitte Corley, review of exh. cats.‘Genie ohne Namen Der Meister des Bartholomäus-Altars (Cologne 2001)’ and ‘Das Stundenbuch der Sophia van Bylant’, (both ed.by Rainer Budde and Roland Krischel), Kunstchronik, February 2002, pp.49-59