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Saints Matthias and Matthew
Master of the Holy Kinship (German (Cologne School), active last quarter of the 15th century)
Medium/Technique
Oil on panel
Dimensions
48 x 32.4 cm (18 7/8 x 12 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Denman Waldo Ross Collection
Accession Number07.646
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
In contrast to the depiction of deep space favored by Netherlandish painters, Cologne-school artists compressed space and filled every nook with decorative ornament, as in the screen that frames the figures and blocks the stained-glass lunette. This work was originally part of a series of paintings of paired apostles (missionaries of Christ). Although not one of the first disciples, Matthias replaced the traitor Judas Iscariot, returning the number of apostles to twelve. The unidentified artist is named after the subject of a stylistically related altarpiece in Cologne.
ProvenanceBy 1826, Werner Moritz von Haxthausen (b. 1780 - d. 1842), Wurzburg, Germany; 1842, by inheritance to his daughter, Maria von Haxthausen-Neuhaus (b. 1826 - d. 1880) and her husband, Hermann von und zu Brenken (b. 1820 - d. 1894), Schloss Wewer [see note 1]; by inheritance, probably to their son, Dietrich Friedrich von und zu Brenken (b. 1850 - d. 1927), Schloss Wewer [see note 2]. 1906, sold by Drey (dealer), Munich, to Julius Böhler (dealer), Munich [see note 3]; 1907, sold by Julius Böhler to Denman Waldo Ross (b. 1853 - d. 1935), Cambridge, MA; 1907, gift of Denman Waldo Ross to the MFA. (Accession Date: November 14, 1907)
NOTES:
[1] This is one of seven related panels that made up the predella to an altarpiece. All seven were in the Haxthausen collection (inventoried in 1826 and lent to the Wallrafianum, Cologne, until 1838). See H. Kier and F. G. Zehnder, eds., Lust und Verlust II: Corpus-Band zu Kölner Gemäldesammlungen 1800-1860 (Cologne, 1998), pp. 290-293, 313-314, cats. 249-255 and Marga Kessler van den Heuvel, Meister der heiligen Sippe der Jüngere (Frankfurt, 1987), pp. 227-236, cats. 20-21.
[2] Two panels from the series were lent by "Freiherr von Brenken, Wewer," to the Kunsthistorische Ausstellung, Düsseldorf (1904), cat. no. 43. The series was probably broken up and sold between about 1904 and 1906; like the present painting, other panels appeared on the art market at this time (see Kier and Zehnder 1998, as above, n. 1).
[3] According to a letter from Julius Böhler to the MFA (November 26, 1963; in MFA curatorial files), this was purchased from either Julius or A. S. Drey.
NOTES:
[1] This is one of seven related panels that made up the predella to an altarpiece. All seven were in the Haxthausen collection (inventoried in 1826 and lent to the Wallrafianum, Cologne, until 1838). See H. Kier and F. G. Zehnder, eds., Lust und Verlust II: Corpus-Band zu Kölner Gemäldesammlungen 1800-1860 (Cologne, 1998), pp. 290-293, 313-314, cats. 249-255 and Marga Kessler van den Heuvel, Meister der heiligen Sippe der Jüngere (Frankfurt, 1987), pp. 227-236, cats. 20-21.
[2] Two panels from the series were lent by "Freiherr von Brenken, Wewer," to the Kunsthistorische Ausstellung, Düsseldorf (1904), cat. no. 43. The series was probably broken up and sold between about 1904 and 1906; like the present painting, other panels appeared on the art market at this time (see Kier and Zehnder 1998, as above, n. 1).
[3] According to a letter from Julius Böhler to the MFA (November 26, 1963; in MFA curatorial files), this was purchased from either Julius or A. S. Drey.