Monday, August 3, 2020

Anonymous Northern European Painting in British Collections

Anonymous German Artist
St Sebastian
15th century
oil on panel
(fragment of triptych)
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Anonymous German Artist
Portrait of a Lady
ca. 1470
oil on panel
(presented by Queen Victoria)
National Gallery, London

Anonymous German Artist
St George and the Dragon
ca. 1517
oil on panel
(altarpiece fragment)
Compton Verney, Warwickshire

Anonymous Netherlandish Artist
Virgin and Child with Angels
16th century
oil on canvas
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

Anonymous German Artist
Portrait of a Gentleman
ca. 1530-40
oil on panel
National Gallery, London

Anonymous Northern European Artist
Lucretia
ca. 1530-50
oil on panel
(after a drawing by Raphael)
Courtauld Gallery, London

from Rugby Chapel

Yes! I believe that there lived
Others like thee in the past,
Not like the men of the crowd
Who all around me to-day
Bluster or cringe, and make life
Hideous, and arid, and vile;
But souls temper'd with fire,
Fervent, heroic, and good,
Helpers and friends of mankind.

– Matthew Arnold (1867)

Anonymous German Artist
St Matthias
17th century
oil on canvas
Beecroft Art Gallery, Southend-on-Sea, Essex

Anonymous Flemish Artist
St Anne holding the Virgin
and the Christ Child

ca. 1620
oil on panel
(altarpiece fragment)
Beningbrough Hall, Yorkshire

Anonymous Flemish Artist
St Adriaen
ca. 1620
oil on panel
(altarpiece fragment)
Beningbrough Hall, Yorkshire

Anonymous Netherlandish Artist
St Andrew
ca. 1625-35
oil on canvas
York City Art Gallery

Anonymous German Artist
Portrait of a Gentleman
ca. 1640
oil on canvas
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Anonymous Flemish Artist
Portrait of a Gentleman
ca. 1640-60
oil on canvas
Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, County Durham

Anonymous Netherlandish Artist
Bathsheba
17th century
oil on canvas
York City Art Gallery

Anonymous Netherlandish Artist
Princess Mary Henrietta of Orange
(eldest daughter of King Charles I)
ca. 1650
oil on canvas
National Trust, Hatchlands, Surrey

Anonymous Netherlandish Artist
Vanitas Trompe-l’oeil Letter Rack with Death Notices
ca. 1660
oil on canvas
National Trust, Dyrham Park, Gloucestershire

from The Benefactors

Ah! What avails the classic bent
     And what the cultured word,
Against th' undoctored incident
     That actually occurred?

And what is Art whereto we press
     Through paint and prose and rhyme –
When Nature in her nakedness
     Defeats us every time?

– Rudyard Kipling (1919)