The many variations of an Early Netherlandish "Throne of Mercy"

Bernaerts, from Belgium, sells on 9 December 2019 a "Flemish, anonymous, late 16th century" Trinity, estimated at 2,000 to 3,000 Euro.

They describe it as a version of a much-copied painting from the National Gallery by the Master of the Prodigal Son.

In fact it is much closer to a composition which I already described in a blog post from November 2018, and which goes back to a (lost?) Rogier van der Weyden work. The image shows the Trinity in a specific pose usually called a Throne of Mercy.

That post contained a few images of such compositions, but there are many further versions of this composition around, many of them quite elaborate, and attributed to a wide variety of artists. Most of these I found through the BALat / Kik-Irpa phototeque search.

A somewhat less close copy, as the center piece for a triptych, is attributed to Jean Bellegambe and kept in the Museum of Fine Arts in Lille (a museum, by the way, with a fairly good collection of Early Netherlandish paintings, including works by Dirk Bouts).

Colijn de Coter, Louvre

Joos van Cleve

Copy after Robert Campin

Another copy after Campin

Master of the Holy Blood? (Brussels)

 

Antwerp School, 1525 (Christie's 2014)

 

But the actual original work is most closely followed in a few very nice copies. Apart from the one in Museum M in Leuven (given in the earlier blog post), these included one by Colijn de Coter from the Louvre, one attributed to Joos van Cleve (location unknown), a copy after Robert Campin from the Fanch collection, another very similar copy after Campin (location unknown), and one tentatively attributed to the Master of the Holy Blood (from the Brussels Museum of Fine Arts). Another version of this, given to "Antwerp School, ca. 1525" was sold at Christie's in 2014 for £50,000.

At some point another major version evolved, only showing the trinity (Father, son, and Holy Ghost as a dove) without the angels or the background. The one for sale now, and the one for sale in the previous post, are examples of this, but other ones are known. The main variations are the Father either looking straight ahead (closer to the examples above), or to the side (showing more grief and less majesty).

Northern French artist

Follower of Hugo Van der Goes (Verviers)
 

Unknown painter, Brussels

Unknown painter, Marke

Examples include one from an unknown Northern French artist (location unknown), a Follower of Hugo van der Goes from the Verviers City Museum, which is actually very close to the work for sale (but better executed), an unknown painter (Brussels, Social Services Museum) (even closer to the one for sale), and an unknown painter from the De Béthune collection in Marke, Flanders.

1504 triptych, Lessines

Follower of Campin, Berlin 

 

Jean Bellegambe, Douai

 

Master of the Virgo inter Virgines (Zagreb)

  

Further variations can be seen in a rather naive triptych from 1504, now in the Hospital Museum in Lessines, a follower of Campin in the Museum of Berlin (an intermediate form between the two major versions), the central painting from a major polyptych by Jean Bellegambe, from the Museum of Douai, and even a "Master of the Virgo inter Virgines" from the Strossmayer Gallery in Zagreb.

The original version of this intermediate form (Father frontal, background, but no angels) may be found in a Robert Campin from the Hermitage. Note that this is one of the very few in the long list of images where the left hand of Christ (right from our point of view) is hanging down instead of being open, to show the stigmata. But in essence it clearly is the same composition.

Related to this is a work supposed to be by Robert Campin as well, from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. It is not a painting but a kind of bejeweled embroidery, which I only found through sites selling art reproductions, not directly, so I give the information for what it's worth.

Like I said, one of the most often copied or reinterpreted Early Netherlandish paintings you can find, with many great names associated.