Selected Works by Old Masters and Primitive Painters of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Sale of Paintings by Italian, Dutch, Flemish, French and Spanish Old Masters of the Trecento of the Quattrocento and Renaissance. Oils or tempera on panels or on canvas.
Ambrosius Benson. Bruges oil on panel.
Madonna and Child accompanied by the infant Saint John the Baptist. This composition of very good execution shows the characteristics of Benson's work. The chiaroscuro, in particular on the face or the hair of the Virgin, the work of the hands of the Virgin with the elongated fingers, the outline of the nails or the expression of the Virgin. This work is extraordinarily close to the Benson housed in the Museo de Bellas Artes in Seville, thus illustrating the lucrative trade established by Benson with Spain. Our painting is undoubtedly commissioned by a wealthy Spanish around 1645 and perfectly illustrates the series produced by Benson for his active trade to Spain, where the master carried out the main themes and left his pupils to paint the minor elements, probably the still life here, and perhaps also the Virgin's mantle.
The Morata Master tempera on panel. The Mass of St. Gregory.
Aragon 15th century, province of Zaragoza. Tempera on panel taking up the theme of the mass of Saint-Grégoire. the scene shows Pope Gregory the Great (540-604) celebrating mass in the Church of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem in Rome, and the apparition on the altar of Christ as a Man of Sorrows.
Primitive painters and old masters have left us wonderful artistic expressions, often on panel, in egg paintings (tempera) and later in oil. The subjects are of course religious but also offer an anthology of profane representations with portraits and scenes of daily life.