Portrait of a Benedictine Abbot

Formerly attributed to Jean Bellegambe (Netherlandish, ca. 1470 - 1533)

Dateca. 1510-1520

MediumOil on panel

DimensionsUnframed: 10 7/8 x 8 5/16 inches (27.62 x 21.11 cm)
Framed: 24 3/4 x 16 3/4 x 3 9/16 inches (62.87 x 42.55 x 9.05 cm)

Credit LineBequest of Barbara James McGreevy

Object number2005.9

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

European Art

Terms

DescriptionIn the center there appears the bust-length portrait of a monk surrounded by an architectural enframement consisting of two columns and an arch overhead. He displays the tonsure and wears a black loose-fitting garment. The palm of his left hand is halfway opened and placed on an open book while he holds a staff in his right hand. In the left background, there appears an edifice of several stories characterized by arches and pointed roofs. In the right background and behind the abbot, an open book appears on a stand.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Portrait Panorama: An Exhibition of Portraits by Artists of Six Centuries, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, September 10-October 12, 1947, no. 1.

Gallery Label

This Benedictine abbot is identified by his tonsure (shaved crown), black habit and staff, or crozier, symbolizing his holy office. Since he looks to one side, the painting may have had a pendant, possibly a Madonna and Child, intended to hang adjacent to the left. This portrait may have originated in Bruges where half-length portraits of clerics were part of a long tradition.

Provenance

Stanley Mortimer (1854-1932), New York, by 1932;

By descent to Stanley Mortimer’s heirs, New York, 1932-1944 [1];

With Schaeffer Galleries, New York, no. 1027, on joint account with Julius Weitzner, New York, as by Jean Bellegambe, January 20, 1945-August 16, 1950;

Purchased from Schaeffer and Weitzner by Milton W. McGreevy (1903-1980), Kansas City, MO, August 16, 1950-1980;

To his wife, Barbara James McGreevy (d. 1996), Kansas City, MO, 1980-1996;

Her bequest to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1996.

NOTES:

[1] This painting was offered for sale by the heirs of Stanley Mortimer, Property from the Estate of the Late Stanley Mortimer sold by order of the Heirs, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, December 2, 1944, lot 72, as by School of Douai, but failed to sell.

Published References

Gothic and Renaissance Art: Italian and other Renaissance Paintings, Dutch and German XVI-XVII Century Portraits, Della Robbia Enamels, Sculpture, Furniture, Decorative Objects, Property from the Estate of the Late Stanley Mortimer, New York, Second and Final Part (New York: Parke-Bernet Galleries, December 2, 1944), 36, (repro.), as by School of Douai.

Letter of certification from W.R. Valentiner, May 2, 1945, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Special Collections, Schaeffer Gallery Archives, box 13, as by Jean Bellegambe.

Letter from Richard Krautheimer to Hanns Schaeffer, April 1, 1946, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Special Collections, Schaeffer Gallery Archives, box 53.

Letter from Max J. Friedlӓnder to Hanns Schaeffer, October 28, 1946, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Special Collections, Schaeffer Gallery Archives, box 13.

Portrait Panorama: An Exhibition of Portraits by Artists of Six Centuries, exh. cat. (Richmond: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1947), unpaginated, as by Jean Bellegambe.

Letter from Charles Sterling to Hanns Schaeffer, February 23, 1948, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Special Collections, Schaeffer Gallery Archives, box 13, as by Jean Bellegambe.

Burton L. Dunbar, The Collections of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: German and Netherlandish Paintings, 1450-1600 (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2005), 29, 163-68, (repro.).

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.