Wings of a Triptych: Two Donors with their Children

These two panels were wings of an altarpiece; the lost central panel would have depicted a sacred scene, toward which the donors turned. Details of a group of riders behind the head of the man point to a scene such as the Crucifixion of Christ. This is supported by the palm tree at left and penetrating light marking this dream-like terrain as Mediterranean.
The clothing of the couple and their children mark them as affluent; both the man and the woman wear firs, and the woman's tiny buttons are seed pearls while her rings and the glimpse of her girdle (belt) are substantial pieces of goldsmith work.
The paintings were never completed, leaving the under-drawing visible. The style is close to that of Jan van Scorel, the leading painter in the northern Netherlands during the 1530s. A trip in 1519–24 to Venice, the Holy Land, and Rome influenced Van Scorel’s development of sculpted faces and misty, fantasy landscapes. Nevertheless, a comparison with a detail of Van Scorel's Portrait of Agatha van Schoonhoven (Gallery Doria Pamphili, Rome) demonstrates that our artist's preference for more chiseled anatomy.

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Don Marcello Massarenti Collection, Rome; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1902, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.