61 JAMES E. SNYDER the Master of Alkmaar Two Notes I ONE of The

JAMES E. SNYDER

The Master of Alkmaar

Two Notes

ONE of the many unresolved problems in the history of early Dutch painting is the identity of the Master of Alkmaar, author of the famous panels of the Seven Works of Mercy in the Rijksmuseum. Although scholars are in general agreement that the anonymous master should be identified as Cor- nelius Buys the Elder, who was a leading painter in Alkmaar in the early sixteenth century, conclusive evidence to prove this relationship is lacking. No works bear the signature of Buys, and no docu- ments exist that link his name to any of the works attributed to the Master of Alkmaar 1. An important clue in the problem of this identity is found in a late sixteenth century treatise by Arnoldus Buchelius, Utrecht lawyer and art lover, who wrote that Cornelius Buys of Alkmaar was the master of Jan van Scorel. Furthermore, we are told that after returning from a trip to Italy, the young Scorel finished a tabula mortuaria for the family Van de Nijenburg that was left unfinished by his master. Buchelius, reporting ca. 1585-1590, noted that the painting was in the collection of Henrik van Sonnevelt of Alkmaar Z. Later, Carel van Mander, who confused Cornelius Buys with his brother Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen, saw the work in the collection of the widow Sonnevelt and described it in Het Schilder- boeclc as a 'Deposition with the Marys and others weeping over the body of Christ that lies dead ... the landscape beautifully executed by Joan Schorel, his disciple". Mr. Hendrik Houmes of Medem- blik, an early annotator of Van Mander (ca. 1670), added that the painting was then in the collection of the Teylingen family 4. The altarpiece was reported in the same collection by Adriaan Westphalen, ca. 1684, and it was last mentioned by Simon Eikelenberg in 1709 who discovered it in het Hooge Huis on the Nijenburg 5.

1. For the identity of the Master of Alkmaar see M. J. Fried- quam nec ipse reversus fefellit, sed tabulam mortuariam familiae Idnder, die Alt-Niederldndische Malerei, vol. X, p. 33 ff.; G. J. Neoburgiorum a preceptore imperfectam rellictam admoveret, absolvit Hoogewerff, De Noord-Nederlandsche Schilderkunst, The Hague, divinique ingenii hoc primum post reditum monumentum relliquit, 19.J%, ii,pp. 346 ff.; P. Wescher, 'Jan Scorei und die beiden Corneiius 4000 norenis aiiquando aestimatum. Exstat Aicmariae nunc apud Buys', Oud-Holland, LXI, 1946, pp. 82 ff. No signature of Cornelis Henricum Sonneveltium. Buys the Elder is known, however, the painter's mark employed by the The family Neoburgiorum is that of the Egmond van de Nijenburg- Master of Alkmaar resembles that of Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen, see below note 8. brother of Buys. 3. Het Schilderboeck,Haarlem and Alkmaar, 1604, 234v. For the 2. G. J. Hoogewerff and J. Q. van Regteren Altena, Arnoldus confusing discussion of Scorel's first apprenticeship with Willem Cor- Buchelius (Quellenstudien zur hollandischen Kunstgeschichte, vol. nelisz van Haarlem see Hoogewerff, op. cit., pp. 352-354. VX), The Hague, 1928, p. 30: The following note is given in the 4. E. W. Moes, 'Aanteekeningen van Mr. Hendrik Houmes op Van Pictorum Catalogus by Buchelius: Mander's Schilder-boeck,' Oud-Holland, VII, 1889,p. 150. Erat is pastoris pagi Schorel filius, in quo cum Cornelius Buys, egregius 5. C. W. Bruinvis, 'De bouw en versiering der St. Laurens of ejus temporis Alcmariae pictor, ingenium elucere videret, patrocinio Groote Kerk te Alkmaar,' Bijdragen voor de Geschiedenisvan het Bis- Neoburgiorum pingere docuit et inde Romam misit, summa spe, dom Haarlem, XXXVIII, 1904, p. 230.

61 The Nijenburg altarpiece was not mentioned again until 1895 when Jan Six discussed a lost painting, formerly in the collection of Scheltus van Kampferbeke of Alkmaar, which he identified on the basis of a crude sketch as the lost Buys-Scorel altar. According to Six, the painting was sold by Van Kampferbeke on October 15, 1855, in Alkmaar, and a sketch of the work with the left wing closed was reproduced in the French edition of the auction catalogue (Fig. 1). The year before, the Van Kampferbeke collection was catalogued in an Opstel of Notice van een MUSeUI11 van Oudheden, Alk- maar, with the measurements of the Lamentation altarpiece listed as 84x68 cm. for the central panel, 84x27 cm. for the wings. The whereabouts of the painting was unknown to Six 6. More recently, P. Wescher published a very interesting painting, now in the Utrecht Centraal Museum, that at first sight seemed to fit the descriptions of the altarpiece given by Buchelius and Van Mander. Introduced as mourners in the Lamentation are Jan van Egmond, his wife Magdalena van Werdenberg, and George van Egmond, bishop of Utrecht 7 . According to Wescher this little known work proved the identity of Cornelius Buys the Elder as the Master of Alkmaar, but unfortunately for this theory, the Utrecht Lamentation does not agree with the sketch in the Van Kampferbeke catalogue, and, even more conclusively, the donors are not of the Nijenburg family as Buchelius reported. On the other hand, the Jan Six attribution and sketch can now be dismissed too. The work that he discussed is to be found today in the Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle (Figs. 2 and 3). The measurements agree with those given in the 1854 Opstel, and the details of the composition and the coats of arms match those parts visible in the drawing. The central panel depicts Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus carrying the dead Christ to the tomb while Saint John and the four Marys gather about the body. In the right foreground kneels a middle-aged patron dressed in the black robes of the Johanniters, and in the distant landscape to the left the Resurrection of Christ is added in diminutive form. Two couples kneel in the company of Saint Laurence in the right wing, while two more are placed in the left panel with John the Baptist, behind whom the episode of the Descent of Christ into Limbo is discernible. On the reverse of the wings are two shields carrying the coats of arms of the donor kneeling in the central panel. The identification of this altarpiece with the one painted by Cor- nelius Buys and Scorel can be ruled out on many counts. First of all, the patrons are not those mentioned by Buchelius. Admittedly, the coats of arms are difficult to identify, but in no way can they be

6. Jan Six, 'Dirc Jacobs,' Oud-Holland, XIII, 1895, pp. 99 ff.; gules. These arms are quartered with the arms of Grcvenbroeck of Hoogewerff, Noord-Nederlandsche Schilderkunst, IV, p. 29. Liege, viz. silver ground with two fasces bretess6es and contre 7. P. Wescher, op. cit., Afb. 1. Cf. Jan van Scorel (Centraal Museum bretess6esgules. They were Seigneurs of Bindeweld. On the right side Exhibition), Utrecht, 1955,n. 53, Afb. 61, pp. 59-61. panel are the arms again of Grevenbroeck quartered with those of Saint 8. For the family Egmond van de Nijenburg see J. Belonje, 'De Aignase, viz. Ground argent with three oak branches 'de Sinople'- Afkomst van het Geslacht van Egmond van de Nijenburg,' Jaarboek green. The Grevenbroeck family was also allied with the 'Scott' van het Centraal Bureau voor Genealogie, 1955; and Belonje, De twee family whose arms are shown-gold ground with three lions' heads Nijenburgen bij Alkmaar, Wormerveer, 1956. The donor to whom 'arraches' de geules (with pointed tongues-gules). On the back of the Buchelius referred would be Jan Gerritsz who died in 1523. right wing on a shield-gules- is the Templars' Cross with the arms 9. John Bowes, purchaser of the triptych, gave the following of Hacfort. On the back of the left wing is a black shield, (scapulaire) description of the coats of arms in his notes compiled before 1877: with the arms of Grevenbroeck. On the left side are represented the arms of Hacfort of Guelders and I thank Mr. Thomas Wake, Curator of the Bowes Museum, for this Utrecht in Holland viz gold ground with three fleur de lys with a fasce information.