Circle of Quentin Massys the Elder (Dutch, 1466-1530) Lamentation Oil on cradled panel 34 x 27 1/2 in. (86.4 x 69.9cm) PROVENANCE: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, sale of June 24 1929, lot 8. Acquired directly from the above sale. Walter Andrew Newman, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Newman Galleries, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (as Circle of Rogier van der Weyden, Flemish, 1399-1464). Acquired directly from the above in 2004. Private Collection, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. EXHIBITED: La Salle University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2005. NOTE: Traditionally regarded as the founder of the Antwerp School of Flemish painting, Quentin Massys was born in Leuven (in what is now Belgium) in 1466. The son of a clockmaker and architect, it is said that Massys was trained as an ironsmith before eventually taking up painting. As an artist, he fell under the influence of the local artist Dirk Bouts, also incorporating the styles of the late Hans Memling and especially Rogier van der Weyden, who coined images and iconographies that Massys took as references and further elaborated. He officially settled in Antwerp in 1491, the same year he became a member of the city's prestigious Guild of Saint Luke. During his career Massys became known as a skilled religious artist, producing many altarpieces and private devotional subjects like the present work for local collectors or churches. He also produced portraits influenced by the Italian Renaissance and typical genre subjects. This powerful and impressive Lamentation is a very close copy of a lost prototype that Massys executed in the 1520s. Here, the artist depicts a dead Christ lying in his mother's arms after his crucifixion on Calvary. Christ is shown naked, his sides flanked by a white drapery that cushions his head, which the Virgin is supporting with both of her hands. Mary is shown fully veiled, wearing a red dress covered by a blue fur coat. She tilts her anguished face towards her son and tenderly brushes her mouth against his newly inanimate lips. In the upper right background stand the three crosses upon which Christ and the malefactors were crucified, while to the left two figures are shown marching on a dirt road, both dressed in oriental garments and carrying presents. In the distance lays Jerusalem, with its distinctive city walls. Several paintings either by or after Massys are comparable to the present work. Arguably the closest related version of the subject is a half-length Pietá now in the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique in Brussels, which may have been painted during the artist's lifetime. Other similar compositions can be found in the Koninklijk Museum in Antwerp and the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, both probably painted after Massys's death, as the present work. The Brussels painting has a different background and a less fully elaborated landscape than the present painting, with a foreground ledge that prominently displays the instruments of Christ's Passion-particularly the crown of thorns and the nails. This ledge obscures the view of the lower extremities of the figures that are in fact visible in our image. The Antwerp picture reduces the pictorial field even further and only shows the two figures at bust-length, almost like a close-up. Yet in all three examples the tender embrace between the Virgin and Christ is depicted-that is, the essential subject matter remains the same. While her hand placement varies in each, Mary is shown in each example wearing the same white linen cap and a garment whose sleeve is delimited by a grey fur cuff. The Munich image is closer to the present work in that it presents the exact same landscape of the three crosses and a view of the city of Jerusalem in the distance (without the figures). Yet, the Munich composition is inverted, with Mary facing left instead of right. This exception indicates that the original, lost prototype was perhaps more in accordance with the present work, which appears as the largest, fullest, and most inclusive record of all the Pietá images from Massys' circle. Contrary to earlier Pietás that were rather small and opted for the full-length format, the artist working in Massys' circle here prefers to adopt a more intense, portrait-style composition in order to focus on the characters' emotions. Ultimately, the work bears the hallmarks of Massys' mature œuvre in that it reflects the Italian influences of Leonardo da Vinci through the aggravated sorrow and sadness of the Virgin Mary, while its composition and feeling of intense religious piety is characteristic of the Netherlandish tradition, as immortalized by Rogier van der Weyden. The present painting was examined in 2004 by Dr. Larry Silver, Professor of History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania. It will be accompanied by a copy of a letter dated November 1, 2004, in which Dr. Silver authenticates the painting as a close contemporary copy of a lost original by Massys.