Provenance

Franz M. Zatzenstein

Matthiesen, Francis
Zatzenstein-Matthiesen, Franz

German, 1897 - 1963

Explore Selected Works

A man, woman, and four winged angels gather and kneel around a nude infant lying on the ground under a stone arched opening set in front of a landscape in this vertical painting. All of the people have pale white or lightly tanned skin. To our left, the woman wears gold-edged, royal-blue robes and has long, curly brown hair. The baby lies on the hem of her robe, his body facing her. An older, balding and bearded man kneels to the right, leaning on a walking stick. He wears a red garment under a green robe, and he holds a hat in his hands as he gazes at the baby. About a third the size of the man and woman, two of the angels kneel between the man and woman and another pair kneel to our left of the woman, seeming close to us. The angels wear colorful gold, pink, red, or yellow robes and all have long wavy blond hair. Their hands touch in prayer and all look down toward the baby. The people are sheltered in front of a crumbling stone wall under a wooden structure. To our left, a cow and donkey are penned in a stable. Two pairs of men stand near or lean on the other side of the rock wall that encloses the scene. A landscape with green rolling hills and a distant town with towers and buildings fills the background beneath a clear blue sky. A triangular structure made of wood beams is framed within the carved archway, which seems to separate us from the space of the painting. The face of the arch looks like it is carved with a nude man atop a column to the left and a similar woman to the right, and with miniature scenes stacked on tiny platforms curving upward to the apex of the arch.
Petrus Christus, The Nativity, c. 1450, oil on panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.40

The Nativity

Petrus Christus · c. 1450 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1937.1.40

Altichiero da Zevio, Conquest of a Town, 1380/1420, pen and brown ink and brown wash on laid paper mounted on original pale blue album sheet, Woodner Collection, 2000.25.2

Conquest of a Town

Altichiero da Zevio · 1380/1420 · pen and brown ink and brown wash on laid paper mounted on original pale blue album sheet ·  Accession ID  2000.25.2

Bibliography

2011

  • Fiedler, Susanne and Torsten Knuth. "Vexierbilder einer Biographie: Dr. Heinz Mansfeld (1899-1959)." Mecklenburgische Jahrbücher 126 (2011): 298-299.

  • Singer, Nina. " Galerie Matthiesen," in Gute Geschäfte. Kunsthandel in Berlin 1933-1945. Exh. Cat., Aktives Museum, Berlin, 2011: 73-80.