Colyn de Coter
Active, Chiefly in Brussels, circa 1480 – 1525

Christ as the Man of Sorrows
inscribed Alex Campbell of Finab. AD. 1715 Aetatis 46. in the lower left, and inscribed Alexander Campbell of Finab. / Aet. 46 AD. 1715. / Aikman Pinxt. on the reverse,

oil on oak panel

25 3/8 x 17 inches (64.6 x 43 cm.)

PROVENANCE: Marquis da Foz, Palacio Foz sale, Casimiro Candido da Cunha, Lisbon, May 3, 1901, lot 525 (with pendant, and as by Hans Memling); Luis Navar, Madrid (with pendant); José Lázaro, Madrid, until 1935 (with pendant); Dr. Hans Wendland, Paris, 1935 (with pendant and as by Quentin Massys); Goldschmidt Collection, Vienna, 1936 (with pendant); With Theodor Fischer of Galerie Fischer, Lucerne, 1936-1937 (It was at this point that the panels were split apart with The Mater Dolorosa sold separately in the Goldschmidt sale, Galerie Fischer, Lucerne, November 5, 1936, lot 2293) where acquired by Private Collection, November, 1937; and thus by descent in the family until 2003; By whom sold, Sotheby’s, London, December 11, 2003, lot 3; where purchased by Private Collection, New York until the present time

EXHIBITED: Brussels, Belgium, L’Exposition Universelle and Internationale de Bruxelles, in the rooms of the Prado Museum, Madrid, 1935 (with pendant)

LITERATURE: Max J. Friedländer, Die altniederländische Malerei, vol. XIV, P. Cassirer, Berlin, 1935, p. 96, no. 105 (as by Colyn de Coter)
E. Pelinck, “Cornelis Engelbrechtsz., de herkomst van zijn kunst”, in Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek, vol. II, 1948-49, p. 48 (as by Cornelis Engelbrechtsz.)
Max J. Friedländer, Early Netherlandish Painting, vol. IV, Leiden and Brussels, 1969, p. 87, supplement no. 133, plate 112 (as by Colyn de Coter)
Elisa Bermejo Martinez, La Pintura de los Primitivos Flamencos en España, Madrid, 1980, p. 191, nos. 1 and 2, figs. 172-3 (as by Colyn de Coter)
Catheline Périer-D’Ieteren, Colyn de Coter et la technique picturale des peintres flamands du XVe siècle, Brussels, 1985, p. 155, fig. 285 (here recorded under Oeuvres d’attribution plausible – Périer-D’Ieteren notes in the entry “Sur base de l’examen des photographies en notre possession, l’attribution à Colyn de Coter nous parâit justifiée.”, and dates the work to circa 1500-1505.)

Catheline Périer-D’Ieteren upon viewing the work on March 8, 2007 confirmed that the painting is by Colyn de Coter.

This work originally formed a diptych along with a Virgin of Sorrows, now in a private collection in the Netherlands.

Despite Colyn de Coter’s importance to the development of painting in Brussels and beyond, little is known about his life. He is no doubt the “Colyn van Brusele” listed in the Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp in 1493, and is recorded again in the accounts of the Confraternity of Saint Eligius in Brussels, for whom he painted a tabernacle in 1509-10. His works are grouped around three signed paintings: a Saint Luke Painting the Virgin (Parish Church of Vieure, Cosne d’Allier), the altarpiece of The Trinity (Musée du Louvre, Paris) and a Virgin Crowned by Angels (German Private Collection). His style incorporated elements drawn from many sources, but chiefly the examples of Rogier van der Weyden and the Master of Flémalle. Although a generation apart, the influence of Van der Weyden on many of De Coter’s compositions in which he employed the same type of figures and decorative motifs, was substantial. De Coter was the most notable follower of the period and responsible for prolonging the Rogerian survival until circa 1515. By maintaining the pictorial tradition of the Master who had dominated Flemish artistic production in the second half of the fifteenth century, De Coter’s success was assured. The influence of the Master of Flémalle is evident in De Coter’s sense of volume and form. ¹

The overall graphic character that typifies De Coter’s works with vibrant colors and strong chiaroscuro, separate him from his contemporaries. His linear quality began at the inception of his compositions with his highly personalized technique of continuous cross-hatching employed to render plasticity of form and intensify the work’s play of light and shadows. This is a marked transition from artists at the end of the fifteenth century, such as Hugo van der Goes and Hans Memling, and those of the first half of the sixteenth century, such as Joos van Cleve. Essentially De Coter had broken down the highly structured and minutely detailed methodology of his predecessors to create a more passionate and less harnessed composition. ²

This is immediately evident in the immense suffering De Coter’s emaciated Christ as the Man of Sorrows displays, conjuring an image that transcends period and place. The artist’s characteristic use of decorative effects such as the brilliant brocade patterned curtain with flowers in vases with stylized daisies scattered throughout (so often repeated by De Coter that it can be viewed as a signature), as well as sculptural drapery in delineated folds that are essentially geometric forms, ³serve as sumptuous foils to the horror they cover and frame. Echoing the chord tied around Christ’s hands are the protruding rope-like tendons of his neck which intersect to form a sunken V. The intense scoring of the wounds from which almost jewel-like drops of blood seep along with the crown of thorns that sprout leaves, are unusual and possibly stem from the influence of contemporary Spanish art.⁴ Atypical also is the placement of the scene in an interior setting perhaps suggestive of a private commission. ⁵

We are indebted to Catheline Périer-D’Iteren for her assistance in the writing of this entry.

¹ Périer-D’Iteren, op. cit., pp. 9-11, & 131.
² Ibid., p. 125.
³ Ibid., pp. 125-127.
⁴ Written communication from Catheline Périer-D’Iteren dated May 29, 2007.
⁵ Verbal communication with Catheline Périer-D’Iteren on March 8, 2007

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