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To our right, a man with a long, pointed beard, wearing a fawn-brown, hooded robe, walks toward a second bearded man, to our left, wearing a cobalt-blue robe and sitting on a stone slab in front of a deep landscape, in this vertical painting. Both men have pale skin and brown hair. The man to our right faces our left in profile, and has two sharp, bone-white horns curving back from the top of his head and a claw-like, webbed foot protruding from under the hem of his monk’s robe. He has a prominent, hooked nose, sunken eyes, and he seems to look ahead, into the distance. He clutches a strand of large beads hanging from his waist with his right hand, farther from us, and holds a round, loaf-sized stone in his other hand. The body of the seated man, to our left, faces us but he turns to look off to our right with dark eyes. His left hand, to our right, rests in his lap and his other hand is raised, palm facing the walking man. Rocks and boulders lie on the ground between and around the men. Behind them, a grassy meadow dotted with tiny white flowers slopes down to a line of trees with olive-green leaves, tucked beyond the hill. One tall, spindly tree grows behind the horned man and a bird perches, wings spread, on the top. A steep, rocky cliff rises behind the seated man, to our left. Two strokes of light blue and pale beige suggest two people standing atop the cliff. Beyond, a city with tan-colored stone buildings and blue mountains are hazy in the distance. Atop a tower in the city, the pair of men appear again, with the man in brown gesturing down and the man in blue looking on. Three more birds fly across the sky, which deepens from a misty white near the mountaintops in the background to azure blue along the top edge of the panel. The surface of the painting has visible long, mostly vertical cracks throughout.

Juan de Flandes

The Temptation of Christ, c. 1500/1504

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 39

Medium

oil on panel

Dimensions

painted surface: 21 x 15.5 cm (8 1/4 x 6 1/8 in.)
overall (panel): 21.3 x 16 cm (8 3/8 x 6 5/16 in.)

framed: 25.4 x 20.3 cm (10 x 8 in.)

Credit Line

Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund

Accession Number

1967.7.1

Artists / Makers

Juan de Flandes (artist) Hispano-Flemish, active 1496 - 1519

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Provenance

Queen Isabel of Castile [d. 1504], castle of Toro, Zamora province. Diego Flores, by 13 March 1505, possibly as agent for Margaret of Austria.[1] Margaret of Austria [d. 1530], Regent of the Netherlands, Mechelen, inventories of 1516 and 1524.[2] Her nephew, Emperor Charles V [d. 1558]; given to his wife Isabel of Portugal [d. 1539], along with several other panels from Isabel of Castile's retable made up into an altarpiece;[3] their son, King Philip II of Spain [d. 1598], Madrid.[4] Oderisio de Sangro, Prince of Fondi, Naples; (sale, Galerie Sangiorgi, Rome, 22 April-1 May 1895, no. 738, with no. 738bis, The Marriage at Cana, as Bolognese school, bought in), until at least 1897.[5] (Stefano Bardini [1836-1922], Florence); Vernon James Watney [d. 1928], Cornbury Park, Oxfordshire, from 1899;[6] his son, Oliver Vernon Watney [1902-1966], Cornbury Park, Oxfordshire; (his estate sale, Christie, Manson and Woods, London, 23 June 1967, no. 32, together with no. 33, The Marriage at Cana); (Thos. Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London); purchased 1967 by NGA.

[1] Francisco Javier Sánchez Cantón, "El retablo de la Reina Católica," Archivo Español de Arte y Arqueología 6 (1930): 97-103.

[2] André Joseph Ghislain le Glay, Correspondance de Maximilien Ier et de Marguérite d'Autriche..., 2 vols. (Paris, 1839), 2: 481-482.

[3] For the document listing goods sent by Charles V to Isabel of Portugal, see Rudolf Beer, "Acten, Regesten und Inventare aus dem Archivo General zu Simancas," Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien 12 (1891), CXX-CXXIII. Beer places the undated document in 1526, the year of Charles V's marriage to Isabel of Portugal, and considers the list to represent wedding presents. Francisco Javier Sánchez Cantón, "El retablo de la Reina Católica," Archivo Español de Arte y Arqueología 6 (1930), 106, disputes the dating of the shipment before Margaret's death.

[4] Inventory of 1598, no. 45. Rudolf Beer, "Inventare aus dem Archivo del Palacio zu Madrid," Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien 14 (1893), X.

[5] According to Gustav Glück, "Kinderbildnisse aus der Sammlung Margaretens von Österreich," Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien 25 (1905), 228.

[6] According to label formerly affixed to back of panel which states, "...bought by J.W. from Bardini, the dealer, in Florence, in 1899..." (The Getty Provenance Index indicates that Lady Gwendolyn Margaret Watney, wife of Vernon James Watney, inherited the painting upon the death of her husband in 1928. She then passed it on to their son Oliver Vernon at her death in 1943. The Index cites their "Collector's File under Watney family" as the source for this information.)

Associated Names

Agnew & Sons, Ltd., Thomas
Bardini, Stefano
Charles V, Emperor
Christie, Manson & Woods, Ltd.
Flores, Diego
Isabel of Castile, Queen
Isabel of Portugal, Empress
Margaret of Austria, Regent of the Netherlands
Oderisio de Sangro, Prince of Fondi
Philip II of Spain, King
Watney, Oliver Vernon
Watney, Vernon James

Exhibition History

1908: Winter Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1908, no. 12, as Gerard David.

1969: In Memoriam, Ailsa Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1969, unnumbered checklist.

1991: Circa 1492: Art in the Age of Exploration, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1991-1992, no. 43, repro.

1992: Hispania-Austria: Die Katholischen Könige - Maximilian I und di Anfange der Casa de Austria in Spanien, Schloss Ambras, Innsbruck (part of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna), July-September 1992, no. 53b, repro.

1992: Reyes Y Mecenas: Los Reyes Católicos - Maximiliano I y los Inicios de la Casa de Austria en España, Museo de Santa Cruz, Toledo, Spain, March-May 1992, no. 208, repro.

2018: Michel Sittow: Estonian Painter at the Courts of Renaissance Europe, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn, Estonia, 2018, no. 5, repro.

Technical Summary

The panel is made of a single piece of wood. All four corners are slightly worn and chipped. There are nicks in the center of all four sides, probably resulting from the way the painting was mounted at some point. The painted surface is bordered by a gold band, which seems to be original. Beneath it is what appears to be a layer of pale gray bole.[1] No underdrawing is visible with infrared reflectography. Removal of labels formerly affixed to the back of the panel[2] revealed old inscriptions, one below the other, on the panel itself: Luca di . . . d . . . in black ink; Gerardo van der [M]eir ... in blue crayon; and 2 in black ink.[3] The painting is in very good condition, with some loss in the corners and some minimal inpainting, particularly along the crackle in the sky.

[1]A survey of the condition of the unpainted edges of all the panels belonging to the series would probably provide some information on their framing history. Thus, in Christ Appearing to His Mother with the Redeemed of the Old Testament in London, one of four not sold in 1505, a whitish chalk ground extends over the unpainted edges at top and sides. A gold border, said to be a recent addition, was removed in 1967-1968; see MacLaren 1952 (2d ed. 1970), 42. Christ and the Samaritan Woman in the Louvre, the only panel bought by the head of the pages in 1505, has both an unpainted edge and a gold border apparently added within the painted image and now partially removed and overpainted.

[2] In addition to two typed descriptive labels, one stating, "... bought by J.W. from Bardini, the dealer, in Florence, in 1899...," and a label from Thos. Agnew & Sons, Ltd., no. 28505, these are a label from the Royal Academy Winter exhibition, 1908, and smaller stickers with 55 in ink and HAB/7 2 A in ink. The labels are now in the curatorial files.

[3] The second inscription most probably refers to Gerard van der Meire, a documented Ghent painter to whom many early Netherlandish paintings were attributed in the nineteenth century; see J. A. Crowe and G. B. Cavalcaselle, The Early Flemish Painters: Notices of their Lives and Works, 2d ed. (London, 1872), 147-154.

Bibliography

1905: Glück, Gustav. "Kinderbildnisse aus der Sammlung Margaretens von Österreich." Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungenen in Wien 25 (1905): 228.

1907: Winkler, Friedrich. "Juan de Flandes." In Thieme-Becker. 37 vols. Leipzig, 1907-1950: 19(1926):278-279.

1908: Justi, Carl. Miscellaneen aus drei Jahrhunderten spanischen Kunstlebens. 2 vols. Berlin, 1908: 1:316-319.

1930: Sánchez Cantón, Francisco Javier. "El retablo de la Reina Católica." Archivo Español de Arte y Arqueologia 6 (1930) 97-98, 120.

1931: Isherwood, Kay H. "Two Paintings by Juan de Flandes." The Burlington Magazine 58 (1931): 197-201.

1931: Sánchez Cantón, Francisco Javier. "El retablo de la Reina Católica (Addenda et corrigenda)." Archivo Español de Arte y Arqueologia 7 (1931): 149-150, pl. 2.

1932: Hulin de Loo, Georges. Trésor de l'art flamand du moyen âge au XVIIIe siècle. Mémorial de l'exposition de l'art flamand à Anvers 1930. 2 vols. Paris, 1932: 1:50-51.

1933: Post, Chandler Rathfon. A History of Spanish Painting. 14 vols. Cambridge, Mass., 1930-1966: 4: part 1, 9.

1933: Winkler, Friedrich. Appendix to Gustav Glück. Aus drei Jahrhunderten europäischer Malerei. Vienna, 1933: 322, nt. b.

1950: Sánchez Cantón, Francisco Javier. Libros, tapices y cuadros que coleccionó Isabel la Católica. Madrid, 1950: 185.

1952: MacLaren, Neil. National Gallery Catalogues. The Spanish School. London, 1952: 24. (Second edition revised by Allan Braham. London, 1970: 45.)

1962: Bermejo, Elisa. Juan de Flandes. Madrid, 1962: 12, 41, pl. 2.

1965: Eisler, Colin T. "The Sittow Assumption." Art News 64 (September, 1965): 53.

1967: Christie, Manson & Woods. Christie's Review of the Year, October 1966 - July 1967. London, 1967: 25-26, repro.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 62, repro.

1970: Davies, Martin. Primitifs flamands. Corpus. The National Gallery London. 3 vols. Brussels, 1970: 3:9.

1974: Walker, John. Self-Portrait with Donors: Confessions of an Art Collector. Boston and Toronto, 1974: 42-44.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 184, repro.

1979: Thomas, Denis. The Face of Christ. London, 1979: 129, color repro.

1981: Demus, Klaus, Friderike Klauner, and Karl Schütz. Kunsthistorisches Museum. Flämische Malerei von Jan van Eyck bis Pieter Bruegel der Ä. Vienna, 1981: 176.

1982: Kauffmann, C. M. Victoria and Albert Museum. Catalogue of the Paintings in the Wellington Museum. London, 1982: 78-79.

1984: Bauman, Guy C. "Juan de Flandes." In The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1984: 60, 62; 63 nt.2 under no. 20.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 138, no. 135, color repro.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 212, repro.

1986: Hand, John Oliver and Martha Wolff. Early Netherlandish Painting. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, 1986: 133-139, repro. 135.

1991: Brown, Jonathan. The Golden Age of Painting in Spain. New Haven, 1998: 10, fig. 3.

1991: MacCormack, Sabine. "Demons, Imagination, and the Incas." Representations 33, Winter (1991): 126, fig. 5.

1993: MacCormack, Sabine. "Demons, Imagination, and the Incas." In New World Encounters. edited by Stephen Greenblatt. Berkeley, 1993: 106-107, fig. 5.

1996: Marquand, Edward Bruce, ed. The Devil's Mischief: In Which His Own Story is Told in Word and Pictures. New York, 1996: [70], repro.

1996: Woodard, Russell Main. Revelation--A Spiritual Study. Silver Spring, 1996: repro.

1998: Ainsworth, Maryan W. and Keith Christiansen, ed. From Van Eyck to Bruegel: Early Netherlandish Painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1998. New York, 1998: 73. (NGA painting was not in the exhibition.)

1998: Brown, Jonathan. Painting in Spain, 1500-1700. New Haven, 1998: 19, color fig. 24.

2000: Fahy, Everett. Dipinti, disegni, miniature, stampe: L'Archivio storico fotografico di Stefano Bardini. Florence, 2000: 55, no. 551.

2001: Horgan, Marta. "The Golden Age of Spanish Art." Washington Parent (April 2001): 14.

2004: Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 56-57, no. 40, color repro.

2010: Juan de Flandes en het Mirafloresretabel, gesignaleerd en opgespoord. Exh. cat. Musée Mayer van den Bergh, Antwerp, 2010: 36, fig. 8.

2011: Klamt, Johann-Christian. Verführerische Ansichten: Mittelalterliche Darstellungen der Dritten Versuchung Christi. Regensburg, 2011: 18, 101, color pl. 2.

2011: Weniger, Matthias. Sittow, Morros, Juan de Flandes: Drei Maler aus dem Norden am Hof Isabellas der Katholischen. Kiel, 2011: 210-215, 283, no. 3.1, fig. 123, color plates 11a.

2013: Ninagawa, Junko. "A Succession of Wishes: The Triptych of the Baptism of Christ by Gerard David." Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 76, no. 1 (2013): 25, note 58.