Csornay Boldizsár - Hubai Péter szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 96. (Budapest, 2002)

KOVÁCS, ZOLTÁN: A New Representation of the Salvator Mundi from the workshop of Quentin Massys

of the Saviour as presented in the Braque Triptych. The softened, Leonardesque treatment of the Salvator's face in the Budapest panel is somewhat different from the meticulous handling of Quentin Massys' Saviour images, and there are further differences in the handling of the draperies. Thus extensive studio assistance must be taken into account. Given that Massys and his assistants closely studied the works of Leonardo and a number of their compositions are obviously based on these,

94 the softer, less draughtsman-like treatment of Christ's face may also reflect the influence of the masters of the Italian Renaissance. Jan Massys, who had trained under his father and collaborated with him on several pictures, is known to have finished a number of paintings that were left unfinished upon the elder Massys' death. The left hand of Christ in the Budapest panel (fig. 50) is very close to that of Saint Jerome in a picture now in Vienna, by Jan Massys (fig. 51). Thus the younger Massys' participation in the production of our painting seems to be possible.

95 If this proposal is correct, the painting might date from 94 Quentin Massys, for example, used works by Beccafumi, Luini, and Leonardo when painting the Rattier Madonna. The Madonna of the Poznan Museum derives from Leonardo's Saint Anne in the Louvre. See De Bosque, op. cit. (cfr. n. 43), 204-7, pi. 254. For a more thorough treatment of the problem, see Bujnsters-Smets, op. cit. (cfr. n. 85), 41-2. 95 According to Leontine Buijnsters-Smets, there is no reason to suppose that the author of the Budapest panel was Jan Massys or an artist from his circle. At the same time, she also admitted that such details as the cross upon the globe as well as the overall concept of the composition allow for the possibility that it was the master himself.