Adriaen Van Overbeke

Adriaen van Overbeke Aktiv i Antwerp och Kempen c:a 1508-1529. Hansateljé. Johannes döparen. Olja på pannå, 68 x48,5. Studioof. The beheading of St John the baptist. Oil onpanel, 68 x 48.5 cm. Provenance: With deJonckheere, Paris. The attribution has been kindlysuggested by Peter van den Brink on the basis of a photograph. He has further pointed out that the composition is based on anengraving by Durer. A similar use of Durer engravings inthe work of Overbeke and his studio are the compositions in the twowings of a now dismantled altarpiece of Christ taken into prisonand the preparation for the Crucifixion, in the Musee des ArtsDecoratifs, Paris, inv.no. Pe 154 and Pe 155 (see P. van den Brink, et.al., Extravagant!, exhibition catalogue,Antwerp, Maastricht, 2005/6, p. 180/1, cat.no. 75, with ill.), which otherwise show the same fancily dressedfigure in striped pants as is the executioner in the presentpanel. Adriaen van Overbeke counts today as among the mostsuccesful workshops of painters active in Antywerp in the early16th century. While his most prestigious commissions werethose for the altar of Saint Anne for the Propsteikirche in Kempenin the Rhineland in 1513 (still in situ) and for the altar of theEucharist received from the Franciscan Order in Dortmund in 1522(now in the St Petri Church) his studio was further active for awide range of commissions and probably also as undertakers forother studios. Overbeke’’’’’’’’s earliest known triptych isthe altar of the Crucifixion of circa 1510 painted for theElisabeth hospital in Antwerp (now Maagdenhuis, Amsterdam). Following M.J. Friedlander, Early NetherlandishPainting, XI, pp. 26/7, who was then still unaware of hisidentity and thus provisionally called him the Master of theAntwerp Crucifixion, this triptych is still considered as exemplaryfor his painterly style. The identification of the Masterof the Antwerp Crucifixion as Adriaen van Ovebeke followed thediscovery of the contracts for the Kempen and Dortmund commissionsin the 1990’’’’’’’’ s.