1950.60: Thief on the Cross

Identification and Creation

Object Number

1950.60

People

Studio of Master of Flémalle, Netherlandish (1375 - 1444)
Previously attributed to Master of Flémalle, Netherlandish (1375 - 1444)

Title

Thief on the Cross

Classification

Drawings

Work Type

drawing

Date

14th-15th century

Culture

Netherlandish

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/297420

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Metalpoint and touches of black chalk on gray prepared paper

Dimensions

26.3 x 14.2 cm (10 3/8 x 5 9/16 in.)
mount: 30.6 x 17 cm (12 1/16 x 6 11/16 in.)

Inscriptions and Marks

• inscription: backing, verso, upper center, graphite: [illegible]
• inscription: backing, verso, upper right, purple ink stamp and brown ink: 452 / L. 1758 (Freiherr Reinhold von Liphardt)
• inscription: backing, verso, center, graphite: 26114
• inscription: backing, verso, lower center, graphite [partially erased]: Rogi[e?] ... [illegible] / [illegible, erased]
• inscription: backing, verso, lower right, brown ink: J 10 [?]
• inscription: backing, verso, lower center, graphite: Auktion Weigel / 1838
• inscription: mount, verso, lower left: T.L. 8756 uxx
• watermark: unidentifiable
• inscription: backing, verso, upper center, brown ink: [two illegible words]
• watermark: center right edge, single wire design: [illegible, possibly a flower?]

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

Possibly sold [through Weigel, Leipzig, October 7, 1838, no. 1089 as by Wie Zwott]. Probably Karl Eduard von Liphart, (1808-1891), Dorpat, Bonn, and Florence, by descent; to Freiherr Reinhold von Liphart, Rathshof near Dorpat, Russia (Lugt 1758), 1876, sold [through C. G. Boerner, Leipzig, June 27, 1899, lot 671 as by Rogier van der Weyden]. [Helmuth Domizlaff, Munich], sold [through Charles Stonehill, London]; to [Hans M. Calmann, London, 1950], sold; to Fogg Art Museum, 1950

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Alpheus Hyatt and Grace Nichols Strong Funds

Accession Year

1950

Object Number

1950.60

Division

European and American Art

Contact

am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Publication History

• Mehrere Sammlungen von Handzeichnungen und Aquarellen alter und neuerer Meister, auct. cat., C. G. Boerner (Leipzig) (Leipzig, June 27, 1899), p. 59, no. 671
• Jakob Rosenberg, "A Silverpoint Drawing by the Master of Flémalle Acquired by the Fogg Art Museum", The Art Quarterly (Summer 1950), Vol. 13, pp. 250-251, repr. p. 250
• Diamond Jubilee Exhibition: Masterpieces of Drawing, exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art (Philadelphia, PA, 1950), cat. no. 6, repr.
• Erwin Panofsky, Early Netherlandish Painting, Its Origins and Character, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA, 1953), p. 423, note 1 under page 167
• William H. Gerdts and Elaine Evans Gerdts, Old Master Drawings, exh. cat., The Newark Museum (Newark, 1960), cat. no. 3, n.p., repr.
• Otto Benesch, Jan Gerrit van Gelder, and Egbert Haverkamp-Begemann, Great Drawings of All Time [vol. 2: German, Flemish and Dutch], ed. Ira Moskowitz, Shorewood Publishers Inc. (New York, 1962), no. 254, repr.
• Mojmír S. Frinta, The Genius of Robert Campin, Mouton & Co. (The Hague, 1966), pp. 108-109, repr. as fig. 33
• Micheline Sonkes, "Dessins du XVe Sècle: Group Van Der Weyden: Essai de Catalogue des Originaux du Maître, des Copies et des Dessins Anonymes Inspirés par son Style", Centre National de Recherches Primitifs Flamands (Brussels, 1969), pp. 127-128, cat. C.20, repr. as pl. XXXI a
• J. L. Shrader, The waning Middle Ages: an exhibition of French and Netherlandish Art from1350 to 1500, commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of the Waning of the Middle Ages by John Huizinga, exh. cat., University of Kansas Museum of Art (Lawrence, KS, 1969), pp. 38-40, cat. no. 33, repr. as plate XXVIII
• Hélène Brunin, 'De Slechte Moordenaar': Laat-Gotiek en Vroeg-Maniërisme in een recente aanwinst der Koniklijke Musea, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique (1972), pp. 41-52, pp. 47-48, repr. as abb. 4
• James Sperber, "Technical Examination of Eight Metalpoint Drawings from the Fogg Art Museum" (thesis (certificate in conservation), Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, May 1983), Unpublished, passim
• Agnes Mongan, "On Silverpoint Drawings and the Subject of Left-Handedness", Drawings Defined, ed. Walter Strauss, Abaris Books (New York, NY, 1987), pp. 150-64, pp. 156-157, repr. p. 157 as fig. 8
• Albert Châtelet, Robert Campin, Le Maître de Flémalle: La fascination du quotidien, Fonds Mercator (Anvers, 1996), pp. 88, 291, cat. no. 5g, repr. p. 88 and 291
• Stephan Kemperdick, Der Meister von Flémalle: Die Werkstatt Robert Campins und Rogier van der Weyden, Brepols (Turnhout, 1997), p. 32, repr. Abb. 43
• Jochen Sander, ed., In Neum Glanz: Das Schächer-Fragment des Meisters von Flémalle im Kontext/With New Splendour: The Crucified Thief by the Master of Flémalle in Context, exh. cat., Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung (Frankfurt am Main, 2017), cat. no. 6, pp. 136-139, 144, repr. p. 137, details repr. pp. 96, 138
• Jennifer Tonkovich, "Hans Calmann and the American Market for Old Master Drawings 1937-73", Master Drawings (Spring 2021), vol. 59, no. 1, pp. 49-72, ppp. 59-60, fig. 13

Exhibition History

• The Diamond Jubilee, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 11/04/1950 - 02/11/1951
• Old Master Drawings, The Newark Museum, Newark, 03/17/1960 - 05/22/1960
• Art of the Northern Renaissance, Busch-Reisinger Museum, 02/13/1967 - 04/01/1967
• A Tribute to John Coolidge: Purchases of Two Decades, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 05/28/1968 - 07/31/1968
• The Waning Middle Ages, University of Kansas Museum of Art, 11/01/1969 - 12/01/1969
• Northern Renaissance Art: Selected Works, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 02/28/1984 - 04/08/1984
• In neuem Glanz: Das Schächer-Fragment des Meisters von Flémalle im Kontext/With New Splendour: The Crucified Thief by the Master of Flémalle in Context, Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung, Frankfurt am Main, 11/15/2017 - 02/18/2018

Subjects and Contexts

• Dutch, Flemish, & Netherlandish Drawings

Verification Level