Christ and Saint John the Baptist (possibly a right wing of an altarpiece)
follower of Rogier van der Weyden (Tournai c.1399 – Brussels 1464)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1440
Materials
Oil on panel (oak)
Measurements
660 x 450 mm
Place of origin
Netherlands
Order this imageCollection
Upton House, Warwickshire
NT 446746
Summary
Oil painting on oak panel, Christ and Saint John the Baptist (possibly a right wing of an altarpiece), follower of Rogier van der Weyden (c.1399-1464), circa 1440. Later inscription with indistinct Flemish text. Our Lord stands left in an extensive undulating landscape by the river Jordan, wearing a blue mantle; He looks down at Saint John, in red robes over a hair shirt, kneeling at his feet. The incident is explained by the text from the New Testament gospel book of Matthew iii:14-15 above St John: 'I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me'. And above Jesus; 'Suffer it to be so now; for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.' The present picture is probably the right wing of an altarpiece of which the corresponding panel is also at Upton.
Provenance
George Wilson Sunderland (?), possibly by inheritance from a Miss Scrutton of Soulton, Yorkshire, or by marriage around 1810 to a Miss Slater (of Sunderland); thence to his nephew, Charles Wilson, and in turn to his son William Wilston, of Wickham Bishops, Essex; by whom evidently sold to Frank T. Sabin; 23 February 1923, lot 71 as Robert Campin; acquired by Lord Bearsted in June 1923 for £5,000 (attributed to Dirk Bouts); given with Upton House to the National Trust by Walter Samuel, 2nd Viscount Bearsted (1882 – 1948), in 1948, shortly before his death
Credit line
Upton House, The Bearsted Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
follower of Rogier van der Weyden (Tournai c.1399 – Brussels 1464), artist previously catalogued as attributed to Dieric Bouts the Elder (Haarlem c.1415 – Louvain 1475), artist previously catalogued as attributed to Robert Campin (c.1375/79 - Tournai 1444), artist previously catalogued as attributed to Vrancke van der Stockt (South Netherland before 1420 - 1495) , artist
References
The Heritage of Rogier van der Weyden, Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels, Belgium 12 October 2013 - 26 January 2014, 9