Master Of The Pauw And Zas Altarpiece

Master of the Pauw and Zas Altarpiece, 1521
An altarpiece: central panel: The Last Supper; right wing (interior) patron and saints; and (exterior) Saint Catherine; left wing (interior) patrons and saints; and (exterior) Saint Nicholas
Add. Notes: oil on panel, shaped on top central panel: 60 1/8 x 38 in. (152.7 x 96.5 cm.); wings: 60 x 16½ in. (152.4 x 41.9 cm.) five Provenance
Notes: Together with Jan van Eyck's Virgin with Saints and Donor (Frick Collection, New Yorkfig.1), This altarpiece of The Last Supper with Patrons and Saints is one of only two surviving works from the Carthusian monastery of Nieuwlicht outside of Utrecht. The fate of the cloister and the loss of its art reflect the Netherlands' tumultuous history between the fourteenth and the sixteenth centuries. Founded in 1392 by Zweder van Abcoude, Lord of Gaasbeeck, Putten and Strijen, Nieuwlicht was vacated twice before being abandoned in 1579 and demolished in 1580. Little is left of the art that adorned the cloister for over two centuries though a large number of manuscripts were preserved and are now in the library of the Rijksuniversiteit in Utrecht. The survival of both The Last Supper with Patrons and Saints and many of the documents related to its commission is remarkable and provides unique insight into the involvement of the secular community in the life of a local religious institution through the commission of a particular family, that of Ghijsbert Pauw and Adriana Zas. The Last Supper with Patrons and Saints also documents an important moment in Netherlandish art: the early confluence of northern and Italian painting before the generation of artists that made the Italian sojourn an integral part of their training. Indeed, the combination of elements from both traditions is striking. The perspectival study of the room and such classicising motifs as putti holding garlands reflect trends in Italian Renaissance painting while the focus on such visual details as the texture and fall of drapery and the inclusion of abstracted rock formations in the landscape clearly place this work within the Netherlandish tradition. The artist who produced this altarpiece most likely did not travel to Italy himself but absorbed elements of its art through the works of painters such as Jan Gossaert who was in Utrecht between 1517 and 1524, the very period in which this altarpiece was painted. There is a profusion of architectural detail in the central panel and interior wings and much of the space from the foreground to the background is filled with small narrative vignettes. In addition to the scene of the Last Supper in the central panel, Christ appears on three other occasions, first washing St. Peter's feet in an adjacent room to the left as seen through a kind of loggia connected to the main room by the pattern of the marble floor. The recession of this interior space seems to continue without end and is emphasised by a woman sitting against the far wall next to a doorway that leads into another more crowded room. Christ also appears on the interior wings of the altarpiece, in the landscapes that open out beyond the parapets separating the donor's space from that of the biblical narrative. On the left Christ kneels at the opening of a rocky cave in the garden of Gethsemane. As the apostles sleep below, he raises his hands towards God beseeching him, in the anguish of his half human half divine nature, to "take this cup away from me if it be thy will." Christ appears for a final time in the landscape on the right carrying the cross while St. Veronica looks on. The view through the window in the central panel depicts a kind of fantasy Old Testament scene with either the Temple of Jerusalem or the Tower of Babel in the middle distance on the right. The combination of specific motifs such as the contemporary thatch-roofed houses and castle-like structures with the outsized rock formations that recall a kind of prehistoric landscape gives the whole a timeless quality that reinforces the larger meaning of the appearance of Christ and his apostles in a contemporary, if somewhat fanciful interior: he is both of another world and yet in our own. Humorous details such as the marble putto holding a lamp over the edge of the decorative cornice in the room on the left or the two dogs fighting over a bone in the foreground lend a whimsical quality to the scene and reflect the northern tradition of mixing religious and genre subjects. The compositions of the exterior wings are notably simpler than those of the central panel and interior wings. Plants and grasses fill the immediate foreground and both St. Catherine of Alexandria and St. Nicholas stand before landscapes divided by winding roads that lead to distant towns. When placed side by side, the two landscapes join up through the swell of the hill in the middleground and the rock that extends from the left panel into the one on the right, giving the impression of continuous space. The greater simplicity of the exterior wings would have made the experience of the open altarpiece even more striking as the gilt brocade would have caught the light and the elaborate architectural detail would have reminded the viewer of a sumptuous church interior. i. the setting The Last Supper with Patrons and Saints was painted for the church at Nieuwlicht, the first stone of which was laid in 1396. The church was in use by 1407 and was decorated and expanded to include various chapels as donations were made. One of the first decorative campaigns was to fit the entire church, including the sacristy, with painted windows, a gift from Bishop Frederik van Blankenheym and local aristocrats. In 1438 the building was expanded from its eastern wall with the addition of the Onze Lieve Vrouwe chapel, adding three new altars to the church and, with them, opportunities to commission altarpieces. The Onze Lieve Vrouwe altar was sculpted from wood and depicted various episodes from the Virgin's life including the Annunciation and the Adoration of the Magi. Another of the new altars devoted to the Holy Cross was given by Barthold van Assendelft and included an altarpiece depicting the Passion. On 3 October 1446 two further altars were added to the chapel, one of which was devoted to St. Barbara. Death, either actual or anticipated, provided the most opportunities for commissions and there were as many as 250 lay burials in the cloister complex. Eight of these were located in the larger church and eleven were in the Onze Lieve Vrouwe chapel itself. Paintings commemorating the dead (memorietafels) accompanied the graves throughout the cloister, eleven of which were donated before 1450. The earliest of the two surviving altarpieces from Nieuwlicht is Jan van Eyck's Virgin with Saints and Donor (fig. 1). It was painted in 1441 for Jan Vos, the head of a Carthusian monastery outside of Bruges, and he appears on the left kneeling before the Virgin. Around 1450, Vos was made head of Nieuwlicht and brought van Eyck's painting (originally the central panel of a triptych) with him to the cloister's church where it was placed in the Onze Lieve Vrouwe chapel above the St. Barbara altar. The second surviving painting from Nieuwlicht is The Last Supper with Patrons and Saints which hung in the chapel alongside van Eyck's work above the altar of the Holy Martyrs. ii. the commission The Last Supper with Patrons and Saints was commissioned by the Pauw and Zas families to hang above the grave of Ghijsbert Pauw who died on 27 October 1521. The families were related by marriage and both were prominent in Utrecht government. Their coats of arms (Pauw on the left and Zas on the right) appear in the central panel above the scene of the Last Supper and many members of both families were buried at Nieuwlicht. Ghijsbert Pauw was married to Adriana Zas and the couple had four sons and one daughter. Two of their sons died of the plague while the other two, Vincentus and Jacob, joined the monastery at Nieuwlicht. Shortly after Ghijsbert's death, their daughter Emma was married at age twelve to local aristocrat Lambert Snoy. Two of the three kneeling monks that appear on the left wing of the altarpiece are the surviving Pauw brothers. Vincentus appears in the front with his cousin Pieter Zas while Jacob, shown as a novice, kneels behind them. St. Lawrence and St. Sebastian stand behind them and in front of the wall draped with gilt brocade. The perspectival pattern of the floor appears at the lower right connecting the donor's space to that of the main panel. Another donor figure, a nun kneeling before St. George and St. John the Evangelist, appears on the right wing. Luttervelt (1947, p. 110) identified her as Digna Zas, the aunt of the three monks on the left but Scholtens (1952, p. 160) refuted the identification due to the fact that, although she gave a substantial amount of money to Nieuwlicht and was buried there upon her death, she was not a nun. While the identity of the female donor remains unclear, the circumstances of the commission certainly revolved around the provision of a memorial for Ghijsbert and the altarpiece was most likely a gift of his wife, Adriana Zas (through her sons Vincentus and Jacob, who became a novice that same year) and her brother Gerrit (through his son Pieter, who became prior of Nieuwlicht in 1525 and served until his death on 6 October 1540). iii. the attribution There are only two painters who were known to have had connections with Nieuwlicht: Jan van Huemen and Dirk Rutenberch, also known as Dirk van Oudheusden. There is no definitive visual or documentary evidence, however, that either of them painted The Last Supper with Patrons and Saints. Rutenberch's son, Ghijsbert, was a monk at Nieuwlicht and the artist was buried there in 1539 beneath a painting that he had finished three years before. Jan van Huemen's name appears in the necrology of Nieuwlicht around 1525. He is described as "domui nostre multum favorabilis" and was buried in the cloister together with his two sons. One of the problems in establishing the attribution of a work such as The Last Supper with Patrons and Saints is the lack of guild records relating to painters during this period. Guilds in the sixteenth century were fewer and larger than they were in the seventeenth century and often encompassed a number of seemingly unrelated professions under the aegis of one group. Indeed, painters did not have their own guild in Utrecht until 13 September 1611, when an ordinance was passed establishing the St. Luke's Guild (Utrechts Archief, 702-1: 462, no. 10). Until 1611 painters were members of the Zadelaarsgild (saddlemakers guild) and are also associated in certain documents with the Snijdersgild (cloth cutters or tailors guild). While yearly records listing the names of the various guild deans exist from 1572, there is no way of knowing whether those listed were saddlemakers, tailors or painters (Utrechts Archief, 702-1: 463). Jan van Huemen's name does not appear in any of these guild lists but a Herman van Huemen is listed as dean of the saddlemakers guild in 1453 and a Ghijsbertus van Hoemen is mentioned as a painter in documents of 1462 related to a commission for the main church in Utrecht. These connections led Luttervelt to argue that the Jan van Huemen buried at Nieuwlicht must have come from this family of Utrecht painters and could, therefore, have been the artist that produced this altarpiece (Luttervelt 1949, p. 119). Given that no paintings have been attributed to van Huemen, this argument remains in the realm of speculation but there are a small group of works that have been thought to be by the same hand as the Master of the Pauw and Zas Altarpiece. G. J. Hoogewerff first associated another altarpiece painted for Lambert Snoy and Emma Pauw in the Centraal Museum, Utrecht with the same hand (Hoogewerff 1939, vol. III, p. 46). Horst Gerson supported with this connection and suggested two further works that could also be considered, both painted around 1540 and both depicting the Last Supper (Amersfoort, Museum Flehite) (Gerson op. cit., 1949, p. 5-6). While no name can yet be firmly connected with these works, all four display the busy decoration, lost profiles, and almost restless movement of hands and feet that characterise The Last Supper with Patrons and Saints. While the altarpiece was for some time attributed to Jacob Cornelis van Oostsanen, this connection has proved unlikely and it has been catalogued most recently as Utrecht or simply Netherlandish School. Our use of the name Master of the Pauw and Zas Altarpiece leaves open the possibility that the artist was not originally from Utrecht while recognising the undisputed individuality of the hand. This was an experienced painter who had more than mastered his craft and this altarpiece was surely among his finest works. Further research into works from this period may well yield the artist's identity and the outlines of his oeuvre.
Provenance: Karthuizer klooster Nieuwlicht, Utrecht Altounian, Paris, c.1525-80. with Jacques Goudstikker, Amsterdam, 1926. Looted by the Nazi authorities, July 1940. Recovered by the Allies, 1945. in the custody of the Dutch Government. Restituted in February 2006 to the heir of Jacques Goudstikker.
Exhibited: Utrecht, Centraal Museum, Kersttentoonstellin van eenige oude schilderijen uit de collectie Goudstikker, 1925-6, no. 13, as Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen?. The Hague, Schilderkundig Genootschap Pulchri Studio, Catalogue de la Collection Goudstikker d'Amsterdam, March-April 1926, no. 104, illustrated, as Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen? c.1510. Rotterdam, Rotterdamsche Kunstkring, Catalogue de la Collection Goudstikker d'Amsterdam, 10-25 April, 1926, no. 61, as Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen? c. 1510. Amsterdam, Jacques Goudstikker Gallery, Catalogue de la Nouvelles Acquisitions de la Collection Goudstikker, October-November 1927, no. 82, as School of Jacob Cornelisz. Oostsanen? c.1510. Amsterdam, Jacques Goudstikker Gallery, Catalogus der schilderijen geexposeerd in de nieuwe tentonstellingzalen der firma J. Goudstikker, 1927, no. 109, as School of Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen, c.1520. Amsterdam, Jacques Goudstikker Gallery, De gedekte tafel in vijf eeuwen, 1928-9, as Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, Bijbelsche Kunst, 8 July-8 October 1939, no. 101, as Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen. Utrecht, Centraal Museum, Herwonnen kunstbezit. Keuze-tentonstellung van uit Duitschland teruggevoerde Nederlandsche kunstschatten, 1946, no. 51, as Utrechts meester, c.1525. Utrecht, Centraal Museum, Utrecht's kunst in opkoemst eb bloei 650-1650, 1948, no. 70, pp. 16 and 58-9, as Utrechts meester, c. 1525. The Hague, Verslagen der Rijksverzamelingen van Geschiedenis en Kunst 80, 1960. Utrecht, Centraal Museum, Het leven in de late Middeleeuwen, 1974, no. 181, as Utrechts meester, circa 1525.
Literature: K(oomen), Tentonstelling, Maandblad voor Beeldende Kunsten 2, 1925, p. 318, as Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen, circa 1500. De gedekte tafel in vijf eeuwen, Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, 1928, p. 20, as Cornelisz. van Oostsanen. K.G. Boon, 'Herwonnen kunstbezit en de recuperatie. De tentoonstelling in Den Haag en Utrecht', Historia. Maandschrift voor geschiedenis en kunstgeschiedenis, II, 1946, pp. 158-61, as Nedderrijns Meester. K.G. Boon, 'De erfenis van Aelbert van Ouwater', Jaarboek I, 1947, pp. 39, 41-2 (notes 20-2), fig. 9, as 'influenced by Cologne', circa 1515. R. van Luttervelt, 'Twee Utrechtsche primitivien', Oud-Holland, 62, 1947, pp. 107-22, as Johannes van Huemen?, circa 1525. Verslag Centraal Museum Utrecht over 1948, pp. 7, 12, as Utrecht Master, circa 1525. H. Gerson, 'Een Utrechts schilderij uit de 16e eeuw', Kunsthistorische Mededelingen van het Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Dokumentatie, 4, 1949, pp. 5-6, as Utrecht Master, circa 1525. Wegwijz Centraal Museum, Utrecht, 1949, p. 7, as Utrecht Master, circa 1525. Guide Centraal Museum, Utrecht, 1950, p. 7, as Utrecht Master, circa 1525. C.H. de Jonge, 'Schilders der Utrechtse School', J. Romijn, hart van Nederland. Een boek over de stad en de provincie Utrecht, Utrecht, 1950, pp. 161-2, illustrated, as Utrecht Master, circa 1525. R. van Luttervelt, 'Schilderijen met Karthuizers uit de late 15de en de vroege 16de eeuw', Oud-Holland, 66, 1951, pp. 85-6. H.J.J. Scholtens, 'Kunstwerken in het Utrechtse Kartuizerklooster (De kloosterkerk van Nieuwlicht en het drieluik van de H. H. Martelaren 1521)', Oud-Holland, 67, 1952, pp. 157-60, 163 and 165, illustrated, as Dirck van Oudheusden, alias Rutenbrech, 1521. Catalogus der schilderijen, Centraal Museum, Utrecht, 1952, no. 289, pp. 134-5 and pp. xviii-xix, figs. 9 and 10, as Utrecht Master. F.A. van Braam, Art treasures in the Benelux countries: vol. I, The Netherlands, Deventer, 1958, no. 5396, as Utrecht Master, circa 1525.