Studio of Quinten Metsys (1466-1530)

Christ Blessing c.1520-30

 

Oil on wood panel 72.9 x 50.2cm
Purchased with help from the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund, the MLA/V&A Purchase Grant Fund and the Grosvenor Museum Society 2006.274

 

Quinten Metsys

Maker of altarpieces for local guilds and confraternities, exporter of altarpieces to princes and merchants in Portugal and Germany, portraitist of kings and scholars, and an important painter of secular subjects, Metsys produced examples of every kind of picture known to the Netherlands of his day.

Quinten (or Quentin) Metsys (or Massys) was the leading painter in early 16th century Antwerp.  He was born in Leuven (Louvain) in 1466, the son of Joost Massys, a prominent blacksmith.  His training is not recorded, but the leading artists' workshop in Leuven in the 1480s was that of Dieric and Albrecht Bouts, while Hans Memling's studio in Bruges provides another possible source for his style.  Metsys was recorded in Leuven in 1491, but the same year was admitted as a master painter in the Guild of St Luke in Antwerp, the rapidly expanding commercial capital of the Duchy of Brabant.  His sons Jan Massys (c.1509-1575) and Cornelis Massys (c.1510-1556/7) became masters in the Guild shortly after their father's death of the 'sweating sickness' (plague) at Kiel near Antwerp in 1530.  In addition to the work of his officially acknowledged pupils Ariaen (?van Overbeke), Willem Muelenbroec, Eduart Portugalois and Hennen Boeckmakere Metsys's influence is evident in the work of Joos van Cleve the younger, Marinus van Reymerswaele, Lucas Cranach the elder (who travelled to the Netherlands in 1509), and such anonymous painters as the Master of the Holy Blood, the Master of the Mansi Magdalene and the Master of the Morrison Triptych.

No signed or dated works from Metsys's pre-Antwerp period have survived.  Early works show the influence of Dieric Bouts and, even more, of Hans Memling, whom Metsys also followed in his occasional use of Renaissance ornament.  His first major public commission was the large St Anne altarpiece (Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels), for the Collegiate Church of St Peter in Leuven, inscribed QUINTE. METSYS SCREEF DIT 1509 ('Quinten Metsys painted this 1509').  His masterwork is the enormous St John altarpiece (1508-11; Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp), painted for the Collegiate Church of Our Lady in Antwerp (now the Cathedral) and relating to the work of Rogier van der Weyden.  Metsys's deliberate celebration of native South Netherlandish tradition is also evident in other works, both sacred and secular, echoing variously Hugo van der Goes, the Master of Flémalle, Jan van Eyck and Petrus Christus.  Metsys's later pictures, in particular portraits and depictions of the Virgin and Child, are clearly influenced by Italian Renaissance painting, a knowledge of which was possible in the cosmopolitan trading centre of Antwerp without having to travel to Italy.  He experimented with Italianate lighting and ornament, and in some of his paintings the sense of atmosphere, very similar in effect to Leonardo da Vinci's 'sfumato', softens and modifies form and colours.  His expressive figures are characterised by a sense of an outward and inner harmony, revealing emotions without resorting to sentimentality.  His dual interests in modern Italian and old Flemish style, like those of many of his contemporaries, reflect the taste of the Governor of the Netherlands, Margaret of Austria, whose court was in Mechelen (Malines) from 1507-30.

Quinten Metsys also had British connections.  In 1491 he produced a portrait medal of William Schevez, Archbishop of St Andrews.  In 1517 he painted a diptych as a gift from Erasmus to Sir Thomas More, representing Erasmus of Rotterdam (Royal Collection, Windsor Castle) and Pieter Gillis (Longford Castle, Wiltshire).  Quinten Metsys also painted a portrait of John Barrow, signed and dated 1521 (now lost, but described by George Vertue in the 18th century).  His grandson, Quentin Massys the Younger (?1543-1589), lived in London c.1581-88 and painted Queen Elizabeth I ('The Sieve Portrait') in 1583 (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena).[1] 

Provenance

The painting came from St Peter's Church, Heswall, fourteen miles from Chester.  It was presented to the church in 1893 by Thomas Brocklebank, a banker and member of the Liverpool shipping family, who lived in Heswall at The Roscote, Wall Rake.[2]  The painting formed the centrepiece of the reredos of the Lady Chapel, built in 1893 as the Brocklebank Chapel.[3]   In 2000 it was removed from the church after an attempted theft and lent to the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.  The church subsequently decided to sell the painting in order to raise funds towards the construction of a new church hall.  It was purchased by the Grosvenor Museum in 2006 with grant-aid from the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund, the MLA/V&A Purchase Grant Fund and the Grosvenor Museum Society.

Condition

The support consists of a single wooden panel, possibly oak, with the grain running vertically.  The right edge of the panel has been trimmed down, slightly truncating one arm of the cross on the globe.  The white ground layer presumably consists of chalk bound in a glue size medium, prepared with a translucent imprimatura.  The paint layers are generally in very good condition.  The painting was cleaned, retouched and varnished by the National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside in 2001.[4]

Description and Iconography

The head of Christ full-face, long-haired and bearded follows the form well-known throughout medieval Europe.  Images of the Holy Face were everywhere, many of them claiming to be copies or versions of a miraculous 'true likeness' housed in St Peter's in Rome.  This was the 'Veronica', also known as the 'vernicle' or the 'sudarium'.  According to the most familiar version of the story, this was a cloth offered to Christ by St Veronica on the road to Calvary so that he could wipe his face.  On receiving it back she discovered Christ's features miraculously imprinted upon it.  The Veronica became the most reproduced image in Christendom.[5]  The head of Christ also accords with the so-called Lentulus Letter, said to have been sent by Publius Lentulus, Governor of Judea, to Octavius Caesar.  This apparently eye-witness description of the appearance of Jesus recorded:
   His hair is the colour of an unripe hazelnut, and is smooth almost down to his ears, but from thence downward, is somewhat curled, darker and shinier, waving about his shoulders; with a parting in the middle of his head in the manner of the Nazarenes.  His forehead is very plain and smooth.  His face without either wrinkle or spot, beautiful with a comely red; his nose and mouth so formed that nothing can be reprehended.  His beard is full, of the same colour of his hair, not long, and forked in form; simple and mature in aspect; his eyes, blue-grey, clear and quick.[6]

The figure of Christ, a little over half-length, is shown making the sign of benediction with his right hand, while his left hand extends above a globe surmounted by a cross an image called in Latin 'Salvator Mundi' (the Saviour of the World).  Christ's cloak and tunic are red, the colour of the blood which he shed to redeem the world.  The border of the cloak is embroidered with gold thread and pearls.  The cloak is clasped with a magnificent trefoil morse of gold set with pearls.  The upper roundel depicts God the Father, enthroned between kneeling angels, his right hand raised in blessing like his Son.  The lower left roundel depicts God creating Eve from the side of the sleeping Adam.  The lower right roundel shows Eve receiving from the serpent the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, with Adam looking on.  Thus is depicted the Fall of Man from which Christ, the second Adam, redeemed the world.

Christ's left hand extends above a huge crystal globe, surmounted by an elaborate gold cross on a long shaft, set with pearls and secured to the globe with bands of gold.  Although the morse and cross are Gothic in spirit, the ornament is Renaissance in detail, seen most clearly in the grotesque masks and writhing dolphins towards the foot of the cross.  The globe floats unsupported beneath Christ's hand, symbolising the cosmos over which he rules.  The sphere, as all-comprising, represents omnipotence and, as a body without beginning or end, symbolises eternity.  The crystal recalls the heavenly Jerusalem, described in Revelation 21:11 as "clear as crystal".  The cross above the globe stands for salvation.[7]

Seen within the globe is a nocturnal landscape with a city beside the sea, lying beneath a sickle moon and faintly illuminated by the first rays of the rising sun.  Light is a symbol of salvation, since Christ described himself as "the bright star of dawn" in Revelation 22:16.  The landscape also represents the four elements the land for earth and the comet-like star (towards the centre) for air, the bonfire (at the left) for fire and the sea for water.[8]  Reflected in the globe at the upper left is a cross within a mandorla of light the mystical window.  As a source of light and as holding a cross, the window cross is a double reference to redemption.  It recalls the words of Christ, "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12), together with the cross which is the symbol of Christ's sacrificial death.[9]

Function  

The 'Salvator Mundi' was an image especially favoured in Northern Renaissance art.  Metsys produced devotional images that were intended to serve the private pious needs of the worshipper.  Because of their private religious purpose, they were frequently painted on a small scale and were meant to be seen close up.   As Larry Silver has explained:  "the importance of the personal address of the image to the pious beholder creates a predilection for choosing images whose efficacy or conferred grace have already been established by tradition."  When the devotional painting contains a particular image bestowing grace, the essential ingredients of the prototype are retained in all of its replicas.  The link between the conferral of grace and a pictorial conservatism was reinforced by the linking of religious indulgences to specific formulaic prayers before prescribed images.  That relating to Christ Blessing began in 1216, when Pope Innocent III established an indulgence for a prayer composed by himself and directed towards the image of the Holy Face.  Such indulgences were a popular feature of late medieval piety.[10]

Attribution

Xanthe Brooke of the Walker Art Gallery believes the Chester Christ Blessing to have been painted by an artist working in the studio of Quinten Metsys,[11] and Professor Larry Silver agrees with her.[12]  The original painting by Metsys, from which it is derived, is in the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp.  There are numerous copies and studio variants that derive from this composition, detailed in the following list.

The numerous versions of Metsys's Christ Blessing were clearly much in demand.  In addition to commissions, pictures were produced for sale on the open market:  from painters' studios, at the great annual fairs held in Antwerp and elsewhere, or through dealers.  Like most successful painters, Metsys worked with assistants.  A vital part of the equipment of any studio was the collection of reference material probably mainly in the form of drawings, but perhaps including paintings or coloured drawings.  This would have been constantly consulted by the master and his assistants, and might also have been shown to clients.[13] The use of assistants and reference material, together with the wishes of clients, led to variations between different versions of a popular image.

The morse in the Chester painting is unique in its scale, form and iconography.  The decoration of the morse and cross vary between Gothic and Renaissance in the different versions, and the view within the globe also differs.  The mystical window appears in several versions, but the globe in the Chester painting is the largest and the view of the moonlit city within it the most detailed and extensive.  Also unique to the Chester version is Christ's left knee:  the artist presumably felt that the enormous globe needed some visible support, although it actually floats between Christ's knee and hand.[14]
                                    
In addition to the essential features of this composition, other elements point to the origin of the Chester Christ Blessing in the studio of Quinten Metsys.  The long, tapering fingers are characteristic of the artist.[15]  Elaborate metalwork appears in other paintings by Metsys, both early and late in his career,[16] as well as in the versions of Christ Blessing and the Virgin's crown in the Madonna at Prayer, which is the pendant to the Antwerp painting.[17]  Elaborate metalwork with Renaissance elements appears in the Dance of Salome, the left wing of the St John altarpiece (1508-11; Antwerp).[18]  The Adoration of the Magi (1526; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)[19] contains elaborate gold objects which, like those in the Chester painting, are Gothic in spirit but Renaissance in detail, the spiral shaft of the sceptre being noticeably close to the Chester cross.  The city in the Chester globe also echoes other paintings by Metsys.  A far more detailed city in a rocky landscape appears in the Annunciation to Joachim, the left wing of the St Anne altarpiece (1507-9; Brussels).[20]  The central tower in the Chester globe, bisected by the horizon, bears some resemblance to the tower in the background of the Offering of Joachim and Anne in the Temple, the exterior of the left wing of the St Anne altarpiece,[21] and to the tower seen through the window in the Rattier Madonna (1529; Musée du Louvre, Paris).[22]

Metsys's Christ Blessing in Antwerp is a modernisation and refinement of the crowning figure of Christ in Hubert and Jan van Eyck's Ghent Altarpiece (c.1423-32; St Bavo, Ghent),[23] the supreme masterpiece of early Netherlandish art.

Date

The Walker Art Gallery labelled the Chester Christ Blessing as "painted about 1510-1530s".  The original painting by Metsys in Antwerp is placed with the early works of c.1491-1507 in Larry Silver's Catalogue Raisonné, but the studio presumably continued to produce versions for many years until Metsys painted a completely different Christ Blessing in 1529 (Museo del Prado, Madrid).[24]  Although Quinten Metsys's studio may have been taken over after his death in 1530 by his son Jan Massys,[25] the Chester painting bears no stylistic relationship to the latter's work.  Marian Campbell and Timothy Schroder both feel that the goldsmiths' work in the Chester painting is "absolutely the height of Antwerp fashion in the 1520s":[26]  a dating of c.1520-30 therefore seems most likely.

Paintings of Christ Blessing from the circle of Quinten Metsys

(1)  Quinten Metsys, Christ Blessing, 38 x 28.5 cm, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp, Belgium.[27]  The figure is bust-length, omitting the lower half of the blessing hand and the globe.  The border of the cloak is far more elaborate than that in the Chester painting.  The morse is merely a jewelled oval, but the elaborate Gothic cross on a long shaft has a central figure of Christ enthroned, with the symbols of the Evangelists at the terminals.  This painting is universally accepted as an autograph work by Quinten Metsys.

(2)  Attributed to Quinten Metsys, Christ Blessing, 53.5 x 36 cm, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, USA.[28]  The figure is a little under half-length, and only two-thirds of the globe are shown.  The border of the cloak is far more elaborate than that in the Chester painting.  The Gothic morse is smaller, with a seated figure of Moses beneath a canopy.  The Gothic cross is jewel-encrusted but lacks a shaft.  The crystal globe, with more elaborate gold bands, shows large-scale buildings in a day-lit town.  Despite cataloguing it with autograph works, Silver concluded that "the Raleigh picture offers many of the features characteristic of the young Massys and his Antwerp colleagues; yet anomalous elements, particularly the background, prevent any conclusive attribution to Massys or, for that matter, to a follower, copyist or imitator."[29] 

(3)  Studio of Quinten Metsys, Christ Blessing, wood 66 x 43 cm, Suermondt Museum, Aachen, Germany.[30]  A variant copy of the Raleigh painting, no.2.[31]  The figure is half-length, and the border of the cloak is far more elaborate than that in the Chester painting.  The elaborate Gothic morse is smaller and the Gothic cross shorter, while the more richly decorated bands on the crystal globe are in a different position.[32]

(4)  After Quinten Metsys, Christ Blessing, oak 58.5 x 32 cm, National Gallery, London, UK.[33]  A copy of the Antwerp painting, no.1.[34]The figure is less than half-length, the border of the cloak more elaborate than that in the Chester painting, but with a small jewelled morse.  The Gothic cross is decorated with pearls, as are the bands on the crystal globe.  The three gabled houses seen in the globe are a later addition.[35]

(5)  After Quinten Metsys, Christ Blessing, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lille, France.  A copy of the Antwerp painting, no.1.[36]

(6)  Studio of Quinten Metsys, Christ Blessing, 63 x 47 cm, Collection of Baron Shickler, Paris, France.  "A replica [of the Aachen painting, no.3] of equal merit, a good workshop product."[37]  

(7)  Studio of Quinten Metsys, Christ Blessing, "On the art market, Madrid, in 1946.  Present [1971] location unknown."  Another version.[38]

(8)  Attributed to Quinten Metsys, Christ Blessing, formerly in the Braganza Collection.[39]  Includes a crystal globe with the mystical window.

(9)  Attributed to Quinten Metsys, Christ Blessing, formerly in the Adelmann Collection.[40]  Includes a crystal globe with the mystical window.

(10)  Attributed to Quinten Metsys, Christ Blessing, formerly in the Prosper Guerry Collection, New York, USA.[41]  Includes a crystal globe with the mystical window.

(11)  Master of the Mansi Magdalen, Christ Blessing, John G. Johnson Collection, Philadelphia, USA.[42]  Christ stands full-length in a landscape, wearing a richly-embroidered tunic without a morse.  Unusually, Christ's ears are shown.  He raises his right hand in blessing and carries a crystal globe surmounted by a tall Gothic cross secured with broad, decorated bands.  The globe has the mystical window and contains a landscape with a castle.  The painting has been dated c.1530.[43]

(12)  Joos van Cleve, Christ Blessing, wood 54 x 40 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris, France.[44]  The half-length figure of Christ wears a cloak with a more elaborate border than that in the Chester painting.  The Gothic morse is simpler and a Renaissance cross surmounts the crystal globe, which has the mystical window and contains a rocky landscape.  

(13)  Circle of Quinten Metsys, Christ Blessing, Rijksmuseum Het Catharijnekonvent, Utrecht, Netherlands.[45]  The figure of Christ is half-length.  His ears are shown, as in no.11.  The elaborate Gothic morse bears the figure of Moses beneath a canopy and encircled by the crown of thorns.  The tall Gothic cross, with figures on the shaft and a Renaissance foot, is secured to the crystal globe with broad, decorated bands.  The globe has the mystical window and a moonlit landscape. 

(14)  Circle of Quinten Metsys, Christ Blessing, 37 x 24 cm, Church of St Hilary, St Hilary, Cornwall, UK.[46]  Close to the Utrecht painting, no.13, but less good.  The morse is a jewelled oval, and the Renaissance cross and its bands are simpler.  Only the upper half of the crystal globe is shown, containing a sickle moon and a comet-like star.

Frame

The elaborately carved and gilded frame which housed the picture in St Peter's, Heswall, dates from the 19th century and remains in the church.  A temporary frame was made for the painting to be displayed in the Walker Art Gallery.  A new permanent frame was commissioned by the Grosvenor Museum in 2006, made by John Davies Framing Ltd and funded by the Grosvenor Museum Society.  This reproduces the original black and gold frame on the St Anne altarpiece of 1507-9 by Quinten Metsys in the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels.[47]

Notes

1. Jane Campbell Hutchison, 'Quinten Metsys', The Dictionary of Art, vol.21 (London), 1996, pp.352-7; e-mail of 6 April 2006 from Dr Lorne Campbell to Peter Boughton; for the portrait medal of William Schevez see Larry Silver, The Paintings of Quinten Massys with Catalogue Raisonné (Oxford), 1984, p.244; for 'The Sieve Portrait' see Karen Hearn, ed., Dynasties: Painting in Tudor and Jacobean England 1530-1630 (London), 1995, pp.85-6.
2. Thomas Brocklebank (d.1919) owned another Flemish painting of the same period, depicting the crowd mocking Christ (illustrated Max J. Friedländer, Early Netherlandish Painting, vol.6 (Leyden), 1971, pl.88).  His wife, Mrs Thomas Brocklebank (c.1849-1937) was also an art lover (see her obituary in The Times, 20 May 1937).
3. The provenance of the painting before 1893 is unknown.  According to the Merseyside Survey 1976: Pictures (copy in Walker Art Gallery file):  "The stencil mark 642 is to be found on both the upper section of the frame [still in the church] and the upper part of the panel.  A printed label 9 is stuck to the centre of the panel."  On 21 March 2005 Henry Pettifer "identified one of the numbers on the back as a Christie's stencil:  182 and possibly a gap and either :5 or :15 in upper centre right.  Another stencil upper centre left :642" (note in Walker Art Gallery file).  However, these Christie's numbers are incomplete, and so provide no useful information.
4. A detailed condition report was produced on 17 October 2000 by Ian Bell of the National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside.  His subsequent treatment record is dated 14 June 2001.  According to the Merseyside Survey 1976: Pictures (copy in Walker Art Gallery file):  "The panel has recently been cleaned by Mr. J.E. Davey (44, Duke Street, Liverpool)."     
5. Gabriele Finaldi, et al, The Image of Christ (London), 2000, p.75.  Today, the Veronica has been eclipsed in fame by the Turin Shroud, which revealed a similar face when photographed in 1898.  Within the specific context of early Netherlandish art, Jan van Eyck had painted the face of Christ, conceived as an historically accurate rendition of the image on the Veronica, and this or a version of it might have been familiar to Metsys.  Van Eyck's original is lost, but the best surviving copy is in the Swinburne Collection, Newcastle-upon-Tyne (Silver 1984, p.73).
6. Finaldi 2000, p.94.
7. Carla Gottlieb, 'The Mystical Window in Paintings of the Salvator Mundi', Gazette des Beaux-Arts, November 1960, pp.315,328-30.  
8. Christa Grössinger, North-European Panel Paintings:  A catalogue of Netherlandish and German paintings before 1600 in English churches and colleges (London), 1992, p.187.
9. Gottlieb 1960, pp.315,329.
10. Silver 1984, pp.73-4.  However, Dr Lorne Campbell has observed:  "It is difficult to tell whether ... smaller pictures were produced for private devotional use or for churches, where they might have been hung on the walls or pillars, or where they might have been used as epitaphs [memorials].  An artist did not necessarily envisage a particular function for every picture that he painted; and the function of a picture might easily change, even a short time after it was conceived." (Lorne Campbell, National Gallery Catalogues: The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Schools (London), 1998, p.22).
11. Dr Lorne Campbell of the National Gallery (letter of 25 May 2001 to Xanthe Brooke) wrote, "it obviously relates to compositions by Quinten Massys and Joos van Cleve".  Arabella Chandos of Sotheby's (letter of 18 February 2005 to David Haydock) wrote, "I believe the picture is painted by an artist working in the studio of Quentin Massys ... I do believe that the St. Peters Church composition would be considered a studio variant [of the Antwerp painting] as the details on the globe and cross and the brooch holding the cloak are very distinctive and of particularly fine quality."
12. Letter of 25 April 2006 to Peter Boughton:  "Although my opinion based upon photographs alone must remain provisional, I agree with the attribution of the work to the studio of Quinten Metsys and with its dating to the period between 1510-30." 
13. Campbell 1998, pp.22,23,25.
14. Dr Lorne Campbell (e-mail of 6 April 2006 to Peter Boughton) noted:  "There is a Massys-ish Saint Catherine, known I think from two versions, where a seated figure is cut off just below her knees."
15. Silver 1984, p.195.
16. Professor Larry Silver (letter of 25 April 2006 to Peter Boughton) wrote:  "particularly noteworthy and unusual for the Metsys circle is the elaborate morse ... This simulated metalwork is more characteristic of the intricate designs of other period artists, such as Jan Gossaert and Bernard van Orley during the decade of the teens."
17. Silver 1984, cat.5, pp.196-7, pl.42.
18. Silver 1984, cat.11, pp.204-5, pl.13.
19. Silver 1984, cat.40, p.226, pl.79.
20. Silver 1984, cat.10, pp.201-4, pl.10.
21. Silver 1984, pl.8.
22. Silver 1984, cat.48, pp.229-30, pl.68.  The city in the Chester globe also echoes certain paintings attributed to Metsys.  A view of Jerusalem, with a broadly comparable sense of perspective but with sharper and more overtly Gothic detail, is seen in a Pieta (Enrique Traumann Collection, Madrid; Andrée de Bosque, Quentin Metsys (Brussels), 1975, pl.163).  A more accomplished view of Jerusalem, considerably more detailed and varied than the city in the Chester globe, is seen in a Crucifixion (National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Bosque 1975, pl.213).  The hilltop castle to the left of the Chester globe bears some compositional comparison (in reverse) with a feature in the background of a Portrait of Paracelsus (Private Collection, Stockholm; Bosque 1975, pl.312).  The broad compositional outline of the city in the Heswall globe also echoes that of Jerusalem in a Crucifixion by the studio of Metsys (Antwerp, Museum Mayer van den Bergh; Bosque 1975, pl.207).
23. Martin Davies, National Gallery Catalogues:  Early Netherlandish School (London), 1968, p.92; Hutchison 1996, p.354.
24. Silver 1984, cat.49, p.230, pl.72.
25. Jan van der Stock, 'Jan Massys', The Dictionary of Art, vol.21 (London), 1996, p.358.
26. E-mail of 14 April 2006 from Marian Campbell to Peter Boughton.  However, Dr Lorne Campbell (e-mail of 13 September 2006 to Peter Boughton) has noted:  "I don't think that the artist was necessarily following the very latest fashion in metalwork; he could indeed have thought that something a little less up to date might have been somehow more decorous."
27. Silver 1984, cat.5, pp.196-7, pl.43.
28. Silver 1984, cat.4, pp.195-6, pl.44.
29. Silver 1984, p.196.  Dr Lorne Campbell (e-mail of 6 April 2006 to Peter Boughton) also remarks "I can scarcely believe that it can be by QM."
30. Bosque 1975, pl.113. 
31. Silver 1984, p.195.
32. According to Dr Lorne Campbell (e-mail of 6 April 2006 to Peter Boughton) the crystal globe "just shows isolated trees as far as I remember."
33. Davies 1968, p.92;  illustrated Christopher Baker & Tom Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue (London), 2001, p.421.
34. Silver 1984, p.196. 
35. Gottlieb 1960, p.330, n.15.
36. Silver 1984, p.196.
37. Max J. Friedländer, Quentin Massys (Leyden), 1971, no.65a, p.67.
38. Friedländer 1971, no.65a, p.67.
39. Catalogue Prince Pierre de Bourbon et Bourbon Collection, sale catalogue 3 February 1890, illustrated opposite p.20.  Recorded in Gottlieb 1960, p.330, n.13.
40. O. Falke, Sammlung, Graf Adelmann, Köln, sale catalogue 26-28 April 1927, fig.314.  Recorded in Gottlieb 1960, p.330, n.13.
41. Gottlieb 1960, p.330, n.13.
42. Friedländer 1971, pl.93.
43. Gottlieb 1960, pp.318-9.
44. Gottlieb 1960, p.321, fig.7.
45. Grössinger 1992, p.187, fig.181.
46. Grössinger 1992, p.187, fig.182.
47. Illustrated with photographs and detailed technical drawings in Hélène Verougstraete-Marcq & Roger van Schoute, Cadres et supports dans le peintre flamande aux 15e siècles (Heure-le-Romain), 1989, pp.326-8.