The Temptation of Christ
c. 1500/1504
Artist, Hispano-Flemish, active 1496 - 1519


West Building Main Floor, Gallery 39
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on panel
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Credit Line
-
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.) -
Accession
1967.7.1
Artwork history & notes
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Winkler, Friedrich. Appendix to Gustav Glück. Aus drei Jahrhunderten europäischer Malerei. Vienna, 1933: 322, nt. b.
Post, Chandler Rathfon. A History of Spanish Painting. 14 vols. Cambridge, Mass., 1930-1966: 4: part 1, 9.
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
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 138, no. 135, color repro.
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.
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.
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
Woodard, Russell Main. Revelation--A Spiritual Study. Silver Spring, 1996: repro.
Marquand, Edward Bruce, ed. The Devil's Mischief: In Which His Own Story is Told in Word and Pictures. New York, 1996: [70], 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.)
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.
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.
Wikidata ID
Q20174886