Lot 2: WORKSHOP OF THE MASTER OF THE FEMALE HALF-LENGTHS ACTIVE IN ANTWERP DURING THE FIRST HALF OF THE

WORKSHOP OF THE MASTER OF THE FEMALE HALF-LENGTHS ACTIVE IN ANTWERP DURING THE FIRST HALF OF THE 16TH CENTURY

oil on oak panel

38 by 29 cm.; 15 by 11 3/8 in.

PROPERTY FROM A DECEASED'S ESTATE

Isabel Jordana, Madrid;
Bought in Spain by the late owner in 1964.

This Master was named after what Friedländer calls his "jealously pursued speciality" of female figures such as the Magdalene, shown half-length. A large number of homogeneous works, many of them repetitions of the same compositions, have subsequently been grouped under his name, and it would appear that most of them are products of a Workshop, probably in Antwerp, rather than of a single hand: the cataloguing of the present lot reflects this. Also given to the same Master is a small group of landscapes of small format and very high quality; these are the work of a single hand and their character lends further support to the locating of this Master's workshop in Antwerp. The same figural compositions occur in the works of The Master with the Parrot (see lots 3 and 4 in this sale), and it is principally the facial types which distinguish these outputs of the two workshops.

Another similar treatment of this subject from the Half-Length Master's workshop was in the Amatller collection in Barcelona. Both may have been painted for the Spanish export market. Another, similar picture, was sold in London, Christie's, 10 December 2003, lot 4, for £70,000.