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

Thomas à Kempis' Imitatio Christi (Navolging van Christus), appearing in the frontispiece of the 1505 Antwerp edition.

28 Besides the images showing the full-length figure of Christ the Saviour, another new type was also introduced in the 15th century Netherlands. It was the half-length, bust-type image of the Salvator Mundi, which is essentially a variation on the representations of the Holy Face, the authentic image of Christ.

29 This type had first appeared in easel painting, but was employed from around the middle of the century in book illumination, too, as an illustration to a hymn beginning Salve sancta fades. A veneration of the Holy Face, this hymn was quite popular and a standard feature in the books of hours of the time. It has been suggested that the first illuminator to use the new iconographie type was Willem Vrelant. Regarding easel painting, it was proposed by Imre Kovács in his work cited above that Jan van Eyck may have painted one or more (now lost) bust-type representations of the Salvator Mundi, which could have served as prototypes for later images both in easel painting and book decoration.

30 In view of the evidence provided by surviving copies it appears that the Eyckian Holy Face had been painted in two original versions. There is a close relationship between these copies and the half-length Salvator Mundi images in the books of hours.

31 The first known example of the half-length or bust-type Salvator Mundi in Netherlandish easel painting is a picture by the Master of Flémalle, dating from circa 1430-8, now in Philadelphia. In this work, Christ the Saviour is accompanied by the Virgin as His betrothed. The panel is intact on the lateral sides but both the upper and the bottom edges are trimmed. Although the figures are cut just above the shoulders, the upper part of their hands has been preserved. The Virgin turns in prayer towards Christ, who raises His right hand in blessing, while His left is resting on something, the 28 Cf. M. L. Caron, Ansien doet gedencken. De religieuze voorstellingswereld van de moderne devotie, in: Geert Grote en de Moderne Devotie, exh. cat. Rijksmuseum Het Catherijnaconvent, Utrecht, 1984, 25, fig. 19. Most books on historical subjects with engraved illustrations contained an image of the Salvator Mundi from around the middle of the 15th century onwards, most of them in the tradition of the standing, full-length type. See, for example the second edition of Werner Rolevinck's Fasciculus temporum from Cologne 1474, or the 1517 edition of De chronycke van Hollandi by Aurelius Cornelius. Cf. H. Van de Waal, Drie eeuwen vaderlandsche geschiedenisuitbeelding 1500-1800. Een iconologische Studie I, 's Gravenhage 1952, 130-1, 148-9. 29 Cf. Ringbom, op. cit. (cfr. n. 10), 69-71. The most recent discussion on the iconography of the representations of the Holy Face is Imre Kovács

's dissertation ("Vera effigies"), one of its chapters devoted to half-length Netherlandish representations of theSalvator Mundi. The chapter has recently been published (in Hungarian) as an independent article (A korai németalföldi festészet félalakos Salvator Mundiábrázolásainak ikonográfiájához. Egy elveszett Jan van Eyck-táblakép nyomában, Művészettörténeti Értesítő 50 (2001/1-2), 103-11). I am grateful to the author for providing access to his text prior to publication. 30 Kovács mentions two easel paintings representing the Salvator Mundi that he believes reinforce the existence of the lost Eyckian prototype. The first is the painting in the Museum Mayer Van Den Bergh, Antwerp, dating from the late 15th century, whereas the second one is a panel now in a private collection, Madrid, which dates from the first half of the 16th century. See Kovács, op. cit. (cfr. n. 29), 108, figs. 9, 11. 31 Maurits Smeyers proposed that the half-length images of the Salvator Mundi in the books of hours may have derived from the Eyckian Holy Face by an iconographie enrichment process that may have taken place in the Vrelant workshop (An Eyckian Vera Icon in a Bruges Book of Hours, ca. 1450 (New York, Pierpont Morgan Library Ms. 421), in: Serta Devota in memóriám Guillelmi Lourdaux, Leuven 1995,215-6).