We wish to thank the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, also known as R.K.D., for their kind assistance in authenticating and cataloguing the present lot.

Provenance:

Ernest Joresco, Chicago, 1986.

Lot Note:

The Madonna and Child with an Angel Offering Grapes is by a follower of Marcellus Coffermans, an Antwerp painter admitted as a master to the St. Lucas Guild in 1549. Details of his life are not well known, and although he was a contemporary of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Coffermans painted in an archaizing style of an earlier generation. At least fourteen versions of the present composition are known by Coffermans and his workshop, with the primary version previously in the Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, Florida. The panel depicts the Virgin dressed in crimson robes and enthroned with the nude Christ Child in her lap. An angel on the right offers a bunch of grapes, a symbol of the Eucharist, to the Christ Child.

Cofferman’s rendition of the Virgin and nude Christ Child is a combination of elements from various masters, with the overall idea taken from The Master of the Holy Blood (Bruges, active 1510-1520), who painted a related composition that shows the infant’s lower body in reverse (Hamburger Kunsthalle). The Madonna herself is most likely inspired by a Madonna and Child from the workshop of Joos van Cleve (Antwerp, born c. 1485-died c. 1540), of which the best variant is in the collection of the Kunst Historisches Museum, Vienna. 

Framed: 35 1/4 x 28 1/4 x 2 3/4 in.

Significant deposits of surface dirt and dust, including a horizontal line along the lower edge of embedded dust. At least five vertical panel cracks run through the surface, all of which exhibit varying degrees of repair and visible inpainting. Several areas of lifting paint in the upper center, accompanied by two paint losses; a few pinpoint paint losses to the left of the Madonna's shoulder; one paint loss along the extreme upper right edge. Additional lifting is beginning within the right-hand column. Pinpoint yellow paint droplets are scattered throughout the surface. A thin line of frame abrasion along the extreme left edge. A thin wooden strip has been nailed to the right panel edge to enable the painting to fit in the current frame. Under UV light: the aforementioned lines of inpainting to the panel cracks fluoresce. Several areas of inpainting above the Madonna's head, with the largest being approximately 5 1/2 x 2 inches that extends into the left side of her veil. Pinpoint to small spots of inpainting scattered through all three figures and their faces and in scattered areas throughout the surface; two larger areas in the center of the infant's torso. Extensive inpainting of the background extending from the upper left corner to center left edge. Additional images available upon request.

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