Loading Spinner

Michiel (1497) Coxcie Sold at Auction Prices

Painter, b. 1499 - d. 1592

See Artist Details

0 Lots

Sort By:

Categories

      Auction Date

      Seller

      Seller Location

      Price Range

      to
      • COXCIE Michiel (1499 - 1592). Ecole de. Huile sur …
        Dec. 12, 2023

        COXCIE Michiel (1499 - 1592). Ecole de. Huile sur …

        Est: €3,000 - €4,000

        COXCIE Michiel (1499 - 1592). Ecole de. Huile sur panneau de chêne partiellement renforcé "Le Portement de Croix". Ecole de Michiel Coxcie. Ecole flamande. Epoque: XVIIème. Dim.:+/-103,5x71,5cm.

        Vanderkindere
      • COXCIE -- JONCKHEERE, K., ed. Michiel Coxcie 1499-1592 and the Giants of his
        Nov. 15, 2022

        COXCIE -- JONCKHEERE, K., ed. Michiel Coxcie 1499-1592 and the Giants of his

        Est: €240 - €300

        COXCIE -- JONCKHEERE, K., ed. Michiel Coxcie 1499-1592 and the Giants of his Age. (London, (etc.), 2013. 208 pp. 4°. Ocl. w. dust-j. - As new. Rare publication.

        Burgersdijk & Niermans
      • Anonymous (16th), Michiel Coxcie (1499-1592), Etching
        Sep. 18, 2021

        Anonymous (16th), Michiel Coxcie (1499-1592), Etching

        Est: €30 - €50

        Anonymous (16th century), Michiel Coxcie (1499-1592), 18th century, Etching Technique: Etching on Paper Date: 18th century Description: Portrait of the painter Michiel Coxcie (1499 Mechelen-1592), original etching on paper Patten size 19 x 13,2 cm.,paper Keywords: , 18th century, Classicism, Portraits, Germany, Size: 19,0 cm x 13,2 cm Condition: good clear strong print.

        Fichter Kunsthandel
      • Michiel Coxcie
        Jan. 23, 2021

        Michiel Coxcie

        Est: -

        Michiel Coxcie (belgisch, 1499-1592), Adam und Eva, mitte 16. Jh., Öl a. Holz. Maße: 28,5 x 40,5 cm. Altersbedingterzustand, Krakelee, Farbabplatzer.

        Auktionshaus Demessieur
      • MICHIEL COXCIE (Meche­len, around 1499 - 1592). "Christ car­ry­ing the Cross be­fore Mary."
        Dec. 10, 2020

        MICHIEL COXCIE (Meche­len, around 1499 - 1592). "Christ car­ry­ing the Cross be­fore Mary."

        Est: €40,000 - €50,000

        Oil on canvas. Reengineered. Presents repaints. Measures: 168 x 151 cm. An urban background presents a series of architectures with few significant elements to focus attention on the figures. An opening in the background to the right of the composition contrasts and "adds some space" to the painting by presenting, on the left, a dark wall contrasting with the figures. As for the characters, two stand out in the foreground thanks to the spaces created and the gestures of the other figures: on the left, Christ in a dark robe, the Crown of Thorns, and fallen, with the Cross on his shoulders. On the right, María, dressed in red with a blue cloak, opening her hands and with a face marked by not too exaggerated pain. These characters are accompanied by others: an executioner or soldier, dressed in the manner of the time in which the work was painted, like the soldiers and other characters in the background; helping Christ with the Cross, another sacred figure (because of the tunic he has), the Cyrenean; on the right, behind María, possibly Saint John and Mary Magdalene. The perfect combination of Flemish models with a strong and direct influence of Italian examples in this work is clear. Compositely, it reminds in slight details of Coxcie's work of "Christ with the Cross on His Back" in the Lower Priory Cell of the Monastery of El Escorial (Madrid), and this painting can speak of a greater Italian influence. It does not follow here one of the iconographies for which Coxcie is best known (Christ with the cross on his back, on a black background and seen from the front, with the timbers foreshortened and emerging from the composition), of which the Museo del Louvre de Paris, etc.Michiel Coxcie was a Flemish artist, also known as Michel, or Coxie or Coxien, with “Coxius” as the Latinized form of his surname. He made mainly portraits and religious scenes, although he also dealt with stained glass windows and tapestries, and is also known for being the first Nordic painter to make frescoes. Although he did not create a new school, it does represent a key link between the early Flemings and Rubens' Baroque painting. He would have trained with Bernard van Orley in Brussels, traveling first to Haarlem and then to Rome, where he was from around 1530 until more or less 1539. In this city he is known as a member of the Academy of San Lucas, and he enjoyed a certain consideration.

        Setdart Auction House
      • ATTRIBUTED TO MICHIEL COXCIE THE ELDER MECHELEN CIRCA 1497/1501 - 1585 | Perseus freeing Andromeda
        Nov. 19, 2019

        ATTRIBUTED TO MICHIEL COXCIE THE ELDER MECHELEN CIRCA 1497/1501 - 1585 | Perseus freeing Andromeda

        Est: €8,000 - €12,000

        Oil on panel

        Sotheby's
      • Michiel Coxcie I, Ecce Homo
        Sep. 21, 2016

        Michiel Coxcie I, Ecce Homo

        Est: €3,000 - €4,000

        Michiel Coxcie I, Ecce Homo

        Kunsthaus Lempertz KG
      • CIRCLE OF MICHIEL COXCIE
        May. 18, 2015

        CIRCLE OF MICHIEL COXCIE

        Est: -

        (Malinas, h. 1499-1592). "Salomé con la cabeza de San Juan Bautista", óleo sobre tabla, 65x50 cm. A nivel estilístico recuerda a la Santa Cecilia del Museo Nacional del Prado.

        Sala de Ventas
      • MICHIEL COXCIE I, ECCE HOMO, 66 x 53 cm, Oil on
        Mar. 20, 2013

        MICHIEL COXCIE I, ECCE HOMO, 66 x 53 cm, Oil on

        Est: €4,000 - €5,000

        MICHIEL COXCIE I, ECCE HOMO, 66 x 53 cm, Oil on canvas

        Kunsthaus Lempertz KG
      • COXCIE Michiel (1499-1592) Attribué à. Huile sur
        Sep. 06, 2011

        COXCIE Michiel (1499-1592) Attribué à. Huile sur

        Est: €12,000 - €18,000

        COXCIE Michiel (1499-1592) Attribué à. Huile sur panneau de chêne "L'Adoration des Mages" et au revers, en grisaille, "La Visitation". Attribué à Michiel Coxcie. Ecole malinoise. Vers 1560-1570. (Elève de Bernard van Orley, Michiel Coxcie gardera tout au long de sa carrière la trace de son maître dans son style. Romaniste et raphaélesque (voir "La Dormition de la Vierge" conservée au Prado), le style et l'exécution de Coxcie sont observables dans un tableau très proche de celui présenté ici, une "Crusifixion" (collection privée, Barcelone) ainsi que dans le volet en grisaille du triptyque du Prado représentant "L'Adoration des Bergers" à dater vers 1540. Cette oeuvre-ci semble avoir été exécutée un peu plus tard, vers 1560-1570, avant la collaboration de Coxcie avec Ambrosius Francken. Voir Handelingen van Koninklijke Kring voor Oudheidkunde Letteren en Kunst van Mechelen, Tome 96, 2 série, 1993, par Raphaël de Smedt, p.83, fig.19 et p.109, fig.12). (On y joint un dossier d'étude). Dim.:115x85cm.

        Vanderkindere
      • Michiel I Coxie , Malines 1499-1592 the arrest of Christ oil on copper
        Oct. 30, 2008

        Michiel I Coxie , Malines 1499-1592 the arrest of Christ oil on copper

        Est: £6,000 - £8,000

        signed and dated lower left and on the recto: De Coxie / f.1590 oil on copper

        Sotheby's
      • Michiel Coxcie the Elder (Mechelen 1499-1592)
        Oct. 17, 2006

        Michiel Coxcie the Elder (Mechelen 1499-1592)

        Est: $40,000 - $60,000

        Queen Tomyris with the head of Cyrus inscribed 'SANGVINE FEROX SITLSTI CYRE, SANGVINEM BIBE' (on the base of the column, upper right) oil on canvas 50 3/4 x 67 3/4 in. (128.9 x 172.1 cm.)

        Christie's
      • Michiel Coxcie the Elder (Mechelen 1499-1592)
        Apr. 06, 2006

        Michiel Coxcie the Elder (Mechelen 1499-1592)

        Est: $100,000 - $150,000

        The Emperor Charlemagne and Elisabeth von Thuringen as patron saints of two donors, probably Guillaume de Bourgoing and Philippa le Clerc du Tremblay oil and gold on panel - wings of an altarpiece 32 x 9 3/4 in. (81.3 x 24.8 cm.) a pair (2)

        Christie's
      • A BRUSSELS HISTORICAL TAPESTRY,
        Feb. 05, 2003

        A BRUSSELS HISTORICAL TAPESTRY,

        Est: $25,000 - $30,000

        third quarter 16th century, attributed to Jan van Tieghem, after Maerten van Heemskerk, Depicting Cyrus dispatching the Israelites from The Story of Cyrus, with the enthroned Cyrus before a draped background with caryatids, before him a male figure presenting a scroll and flanked by attendants and soldiers, within a border with scrolling fruits and animals, the sides with female figures of Geometry and Astronomy and the top and bottom with Sapientia writing, each angle with a coat-of-arms of a crowned eagle, within a later red and blue outer slip and lacking original outer slip, losses and some re-weaving, particularly to the borders, some heightening with color 132in. (335cm.) x 1011/2in. (258cm.) PROVENANCE Supplied to the Imperiale family of Genoa. NOTES THE IMPERIALE FAMILY The palazzo of the Imperiale family, the principi di Sant'Angelo, was decorated by Luca Cambiaso and Giovanni Battista Castello, il Bergamasco. However, the principal room of the palace was prepared to display tapestries that are now lost. As patrons for the series either Vincenzo, who built the palazzo between 1555 and 1560, or his son Giovanni Giacomo Imperiale may be considered. An inventory of 1648, upon the death of Giovanni Giacomo's son Giovanni Vincenzo Imperiale, makes summarily mention of a series of tapestries that may refer to this series: 'Pezzi di Tapessarie di Fiandra con l'arma Imperiale n. 29 incluso il sopra porta'. Interestingly a sale in Paris of the property of Mademoiselle Grand de Dedem on 27 and 28 May 1921 contains as lots 252 - 256 a set of five tapestries of the Story of Cyrus the Great with the arms of the Imperiale. Unfortunately the individual subjects are not recorded, however, the measurements are given and it appears as if lot 254 may be this tapestry. The measurement was indicated to be 280 cm x 260 cm, however, all other tapestries in this group have a height of 330 cm, so it may be that the height for this tapestry was recorded mistakenly as 280 cm. We are thankful to Piero Boccardo for his help in identifying the coat-of-arms and for the information on the Imperiale family. HISTORY OF THE SERIES This tapestry forms part of a series depicting The Story of Cyrus the Great . Two closely related sets are in the Spanish Royal collection in the Palacio de Aranjuez (P. Junquera de Vega and C. Herrero Carretero, Catalogo de Tapices del Patrimonio Nacional, Madrid, 1986, vol. I, cats. 39 and 40, pp. 279 - 296, including a panel of this design on p. 287). The first set, and probably the editio princeps woven before 1560, bears the weaver's signatures of Jan van Tieghem and Nicolas Leyniers. The cartoons for the series had previously been attributed to Giovanni Stradano (d. 1605) and Michiel Coxcie (d. 1592), but in the catalogue of the Spanish Royal collection the series is convincingly attributed to Maerten van Heemskerck (d. 1574), a Flemish painted in the Roman school. SUBJECT Cyrus ( circa 585 - circa 529 B.C.), regarded father of the ancient Persians, was the grandson of Astyages, King of Medes. Astyages dreamt that the baby would overthrow him, so ordered him slain, but he was rescued by shepherds. Astyages found the boy at 10 but allowed him to live because of his outstanding qualities. Cyrus, when older, revolted against his grandfather, who marched against the rebel. Astyages' army, however, deserted him and surrendered to Cyrus in 550 B.C. Now, as a leader, he conquered wide lands including Babylonia, which brought Mesopotamia, Syria and Palestine under one rule. The subject of this tapestry depicts Cyrus in his first year of reign with a scribe at his side holding the proclamation he makes to the Israelites commanding them to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem. Benjamin, the priests and the Levites lead them; those that remain offer their silver, gold, goods and beasts. Cyrus orders Mithredath, the treasurer, to present the Sacred Vessels, which Nebuchadnezzar plundered, to the Prince of Judah (Ezra, Chapter I). COMPARABLE TAPESTRIES The only other weaving of this subject by Tieghem recorded in the 16th century besides the Spanish set was for the Earl of Hessen-Kassel in 1570 73 (now lost). However, borders of nearly identical design can be found on a set illustrating The Story of Jacob that is signed by Tieghem (L. von Wilckens, Drei unbekannte Jakobsteppiche aus der Manufaktur des Jan van Tiegen, Miscellanea Jozef Duverger, Gent, 1968, vol. II, pp. 779 - 786). A set of four tapestries of this design by Jan van Tieghem from the property of Lord Wantage, Lockinge House, and by descent to the Countess of Clanwilliam, was sold at Christie's London, 8 November 1979, lot 150, this subject being panel 150a. Another set of four is in the collection of the Marquess of Bath at Longleat House, Warminster, while another panel of identical subject was sold anonymously at Sotheby's London, 30 November 1990, lot 27.

        Christie's
      • A BRUSSELS HISTORICAL TAPESTRY
        May. 22, 2002

        A BRUSSELS HISTORICAL TAPESTRY

        Est: $30,000 - $50,000

        Third quarter 16th Century, attributed to Jan van Tieghem, after Maerten van Heemskerk Depicting Cyrus dispatching the Israelites from The Story of Cyrus, with the enthroned Cyrus before a draped background with caryatids, before him a male figure presenting a scroll and flanked by attendants and soldiers, within a border with scrolling fruits and animals, the sides with female figures of Geometry and Astronomy and the top and bottom with Sapientia writing, each angle with a coat-of-arms of a crowned eagle, within a later red and blue outer slip and lacking original outer slip, losses and some re-weaving, particularly to the borders, some heightening with color 132 in. (236 cm.) x 1011/2 in (258 cm.) PROVENANCE Supplied to either Imperial Admiral Andrea Doria or to his successor Giorgio Andrea Doria in Fassolo (Genoa). NOTES ANDREA DORIA The coat-of-arms in the corners of this tapestry are almost certainly those of Andrea Doria or his nephew Giorgio Andrea. The Doria family, an old feudal dynasty, was established in Genoa as early as the 13th century and owned numerous houses in the surrounding areas, but no large holdings in Genoa itself. Andrea Doria (1466 - 1560) was orphaned at an early age and became a soldier of fortune. He first served Pope Innocent VIII, then Kings Ferdinand I and his son Alfonso II of Naples. He outfitted eight galleys and patrolled the Mediterranean against the Ottoman Turks and the Barbary pirates, increasing his fortune and fame. Doria bought houses and land in Fassolo (now part of Genoa) starting in 1521. Not even a year later Doria had to flee into exile when the Sanish under Charles V sacked the city. In 1525 he wsa entrusted with the command of the Papa fleet under Clement VII and the following year with that of the French fleet under Fran‡ois I. When in August 1527 the French re-conquered Genoa from the Spanish, Doria returned, now married to Peretta Usodimare Cibo, niece of Pope Innocent VIII. He commenced the renovations at his palace immediately with Perin del Vaga hired as ' direttore artistico '. When in September 1528 his pact with the French King expired and Fran‡ois I did not fulfill his promises to Doria nor to Genoa, Doria switched allegiance to the Spanish and occupied the city for them. Charles V bestowed riches and honours upon him, naming him grand admiral of the Imperial fleet and Prince of Melfi. Genoa was granted status as an independent Republic and was repeatedly visited by Charles V and later his son Philip II who stayed at Doria's palace. Andrea Doria, the foremost naval leader of his time, became the new oligarchic ruler of Genoa and instituted a reformed constitution for the city, which lasted until 1797. His nephew Giorgio Andrea Doria (d. 1606) inherited the title and the family fortune upon his death. He retained close ties to the Spanish Royal family. HISTORY OF THE SERIES This tapestry forms part of a series depicting The Story of Cyrus the Great . Two closely related sets are in the Spanish Royal collection in the Palacio de Aranjuez (P. Junquera de Vega and C. Herrero Carretero, Catalogo de Tapices del Patrimonio Nacional, Madrid, 1986, vol. I, cats. 39 and 40, pp. 279 - 296, including a panel of this design on p. 287). The first set, and probably the editio princeps woven before 1560, bears the weaver's signatures of Jan van Tieghem and Nicolas Leyniers. The cartoons for the series had previously been attributed to Giovanni Stradano (d. 1605) and Michiel Coxcie (d. 1592), but in the catalogue of the Spanish Royal collection the series is convincingly attributed to Maerten van Heemskerck (d. 1574), a Flemish painted in the Roman school. SUBJECT Cyrus ( circa 585 - circa 529 B.C.), regarded father of the ancient Persians, was the grandson of Astyages, King of Medes. Astyages dreamt that the baby would overthrow him, so ordered him slain, but he was rescued by shepherds. Astyages found the boy at 10 but allowed him to live because of his outstanding qualities. Cyrus, when older, revolted against his grandfather, who marched against the rebel. Astyages' army, however, deserted him and surrendered to Cyrus in 550 B.C. Now, as a leader, he conquered wide lands including Babylonia, which brought Mesopotamia, Syria and Palestine under one rule. The subject of this tapestry depicts Cyrus in his first year of reign with a scribe at his side holding the proclamation he makes to the Israelites commanding them to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem. Benjamin, the priests and the Levites lead them; those that remain offer their silver, gold, goods and beasts. Cyrus orders Mithredath, the treasurer, to present the Sacred Vessels, which Nebuchadnezzar plundered, to the Prince of Judah (Ezra, Chapter I). COMPARABLE TAPESTRIES The only other weaving of this subject by Tieghem recorded in the 16th century besides the Spanish set was for the Earl of Hessen-Kassel in 1570 73 (now lost). However, borders of nearly identical design can be found on a set illustrating The Story of Jacob that is signed by Tieghem (L. von Wilckens, Drei unbekannte Jakobsteppiche aus der Manufaktur des Jan van Tiegen, Miscellanea Jozef Duverger, Gent, 1968, vol. II, pp. 779 - 786). A set of four tapestries of this design by Jan van Tieghem from the property of Lord Wantage, Lockinge House, and by descent to the Countess of Clanwilliam, was sold at Christie's London, 8 November 1979, lot 150, this subject being panel 150a. Another set of four is in the collection of the Marquess of Bath at Longleat House, Warminster, while another panel of identical subject was sold anonymously at Sotheby's London, 30 November 1990, lot 27.

        Christie's
      • Michiel Coxcie (Mechelen 1499-1592)
        Dec. 12, 2001

        Michiel Coxcie (Mechelen 1499-1592)

        Est: $43,500 - $58,000

        Christ Carrying the Cross oil on panel 433/4 x 371/4 in. (111 x 94.5 cm.) PROVENANCE The Dukes of Mantua and by descent to Ferdinando Carlo Gonzaga, 10th and last Duke of Mantua (1650-1708, reg. 1669-1707). Sold by Giovanni Battista Rota in 1724, with other works of art from the collection of the Dukes of Mantua, to Field Marshal Count Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg (1661-1747), and by family inheritance until Anon. Sale [The Property of a Lady], Christie's, London, 11 December 1992, lot 353, as 'Follower of Sebastiano del Piombo' (sold œ36,500 to the present owner). LITERATURE Inventaire de la Gallerie de feu S. E. Mgr. le Feldmarechal Comte de Schulenburg, Berlin, c. 1750, p. 3, no. 36, as 'Hannib. Carraccii. - Tableau en planches repr‚s. Jesus Christ avec la croix aure [i.e. aux] ‚paules & les deux larrons'. A. Binion, 'From Schulenburg's Gallery and Records', The Burlington Magazine, CXII, no. 806, May 1970, p. 297. A. Binion, La Galleria scomparsa del maresciallo von der Schulenburg. Un mecenate nella Venezia del Settecento, Milan, 1990, pp. 134, 192, 222, 270 and 275. NOTES Michiel Coxie seems to have arrived in Rome in 1529 at the age of thirty. Although his works before this date are entirely in the Flemish tradition of artists such as Isenbrandt, he soon adopted a more Mannerist style in his compositions, crowded with voluminous, sculptural figures. His main influence was Raphael, but the works of Michelangelo, Perino del Vaga and in particular Sebastiano del Piombo had an impact on his style that would be recognisable thoughout his long career. His most prominent patron in Rome was Cardinal Enkevooirt, who in 1531 commissioned frescoes from him depicting the Life of Saint Barbara for the chapel of Saint Barbara, S Maria dell'Anima, Rome. When Coxcie returned to Brabant in 1539 he entered the painters' guild in Mechelen and became a citizen of Brussels in 1543. Dubbed in his own day 'the Flemish Raphael', Coxcie soon became an established painter, whose altarpieces in Mechelen, Antwerp and Brussels were of great importance for the introduction of Italian Mannerist art in the north, and were influential on artists like Hendrick de Clerck and Marten de Vos. This picture is inspired by Sebastiano del Piombo's painting of the same subject in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg; in the present work, however, the positions of both the Cross and Christ are different, while the soldier and the thief are not present in Sebastiano's picture. Another signed version of the subject by Coxcie in the Prado, Madrid, in which the soldier and thief are not depicted in the background, has been identified as that listed in the collection of the Emperor Charles V (see N. Dacos, 'Michiel Coxcie et les romanistes', Handelingen van de Koninklijke Kring voor Oudheidkunde, Letteren en Kunst van Mechelen, XCVI, no. 2, 1992, p. 75, fig. 12). The features of the thief are similar to those of Saint Sebastian in the left wing of the triptych by Coxcie of the Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, signed and dated 1587 (see A. Jacobs, 'Les tableaux de Michiel Coxcie … la cath‚drale Saint-Rombaut', ibid., fig. 2). The soldier is reminiscent of the one in the centre of the triptych of the Martyrdom of Saint George, signed and dated 1588 ( ibid., fig. 5). Count Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg (1661-1747) was made field marshal and commander-in-chief of the forces of the Venetian Republic in 1715. His defence of Corfu against the Turks in 1715-6 made him a hero to the Venetians, who erected a statue in his honour and granted him a life pension. He established himself at Palazzo Loredan near San Trovaso in Venice. The present picture was one of the first works of art that he bought when in 1724, at the age of sixty-three, he paid the dealer Giovanni Battista Roli 7,233 ducats for eighty-eight paintings, two drawings and a bas-relief by Puget of The Assumption of the Virgin, most of which were from the gallery of the last Duke of Mantua. This acquisition awoke in the Marshal a voracious appetite for collecting and in the remaining two decades of his life he amassed over nine hundred and fifty pictures. Ably assisted by his advisors, first Pittoni and then Piazzetta, Schulenburg acquired works by almost all the leading Venetian painters of his day.

        Christie's
      • Attributed to Ambrosius Benson (born in Lombardy, active Bruges 1519-d. 1550)
        Dec. 13, 2000

        Attributed to Ambrosius Benson (born in Lombardy, active Bruges 1519-d. 1550)

        Est: $725,000 - $1,015,000

        Portrait of a lady, three-quarter-length, wearing dark costume and a headdress, holding a cat oil on panel 313/4 x 26 in. (80.6 x 66 cm.) PROVENANCE Baron Alphonse de Rothschild (1827-1905), Paris. Baron Edouard de Rothschild (1868-1949), Paris. Baroness Batsheva de Rothschild (1914-99), Tel Aviv. Rothschild inventory no. ER 2 (the inventory no. R54 on the reverse relates to the Nazi requisitions of 1940-1). LITERATURE ' Situation de la Collection au 5 Juillet 1903 ', a hand-written inventory, in the Rothschild Archive in London, of the Collection of Baron Alphonse de Rothschild at 2 rue Saint-Florentin, where described as ' Portrait de femme tenant un chat - Holbein ' and located in the Fumoir; a further inventory, type-written and undated, also records the picture, no. 26, ' Femme Tenant un Chat, par Sigmund Holbein (1465?-1540?) '. Anon., 'Le baron Alphonse', L'Art, 1905, p. 271, ' un grand Sigmund Holbein, le frŠre de Hans, et ici son ‚mule '. NOTES This apparently unpublished work was attributed to Sigismund Holbein - Hans Holbein the Elder's brother who died in 1540 - when in the Rothschild collection. But no works by this shadowy figure are known. An attribution to Ambrosius Benson has been advanced, but has not gained wide acceptance by outside experts who have been consulted. Dr. Lorne Campbell has kindly suggested Michiel Coxcie (1499-1592) as a possible author, on the basis chiefly of a comparison with the Christina of Denmark at Oberlin, dated 1545. Others in the field have not been able to confirm this or to suggest an alternative attribution; a proposal of Hans Eworth, for instance, has been rejected. Eworth was listed as as freeman in the Antwerp guild of Saint Luke in 1540, but no works by him are known till his activity some years later in England (see R. Strong, The Tudor and Stuart Monarchy, Pageantry, Painting, Iconography, I. Tudor, 1995, p. 101). The power and magic of the present work, to be dated on grounds of costume to the 1540s or circa 1550, are undeniable, and the attribution to Benson retains considerable merit, even if his oeuvre in this respect remains to a degree uncharted, and the quality of execution of the present portrait appears higher than paintings normally associated with him. The most recent account of his life is that given by Dominique Marechal in the exhibition catalogue Bruges and the Renaissance Memling to Pourbus, M.P.J. Martens, ed., Bruges, 1998, pp. 142-3. She refers to documents concerning the artist's legacy that mention at least three portraits among them 'a person from Lille' and 'a person from St. Omer'. Dominque Marechal concludes 'obviously Benson's action radius as a portraitist extended far beyond Bruges and its Spanish residents'. A further record of 1559, indeed, refers to 'the portrait of a Spaniard' by Benson, so it is evident that Benson remained active in this field until the end of his life. Marechal refers to the Portrait of a Man of 1546 (G. Marlier, Ambrosius Benson et la Peinture … Bruges au Temps de Charles-Quint, 1957, pl. LXXVI, right), and judging from the reproduction the handling seems not unlike that in the present picture, even granted the more powerful impact of the latter. As unusual as the squirrel in the Portrait of a Woman by Hans Holbein the Younger in the National Gallery, or the ermine in Leonardo's Portrait of a Lady, in the Czartoryski Museum, Cracow, is the cat held by the sitter in the present work. The cat - unlike the dog - rarely features as an iconographic emblem, and Professor Elizabeth McGrath thinks it may here be a pun on, or allusion to, either the sitter's Christian or surname (a cat features prominently in the coats-of-arms in Micault/Van Welle-Cats triptych of 1548 by Vermeyen in the Mus‚es des Beaux-Arts, Brussels). It is also possible that the cat refers to the country whence the sitter came, for Cesare Ripa albeit later in the century wrote that 'Il gatto ama molto la Libert…, & perci• gl'antichi Alani, Borgognoni & i Suevi secondo ches criue Metodico lo portauono nelle loro insegne dimostrando che come detto animale non pu• comportate d'essere riseruato nell'altrui forza, cosi loro erano impatientissimi di servit—' (see Iconologia... da Cesare Ripa, 1603, ed., p. 293). Professor McGrath points to two earlier portraits of women with a cat: one by Francesco Ubertini, il Bacchiacca, sold, Christie's, New York, 12 January 1996, lot 187, the other by Hans von Kulmbach in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (see K. Baetjer, European Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art... A Summary Catalogue, II, 1980, New York, p. 300). Otto Naumann has kindly pointed out that an etching of 1546, known by only one impression, by Vermeyen, depicts a woman holding a cat (see H.J. Horn, Jan Cornelisz. Vermeyen, Doornsp˜k, 1989, I, p. 34, and II, pl. A89.

        Christie's
      Lots Per Page: