Czére Andrea szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 104. (Budapest, 2006)

TERÉZ GERSZI: Pieter Coecke Van Aelst and Andrea Mantegna

c. 1500-c. 1542) also repeats the vertical structure of the composition, with the story unfolding from the bottom upwards, whereas the picture format is horizontal with a rich landscape setting, refers to the long-lived Nachleben of the compositional types, to a kind of conservativism. In its placement of the supporting characters in the foreground, the Budapest drawing is also closely related to the works of the mentioned Flemish masters. Similarly to the BrunswickMonogrammist's painting, the mountain and the road leading to it nearly occupy the entire picture field, and behind them a vista opens to the background only at the right. The novelty of the drawing is the scene at the right edge in which Abraham listens to the commands of God testing him. Nevertheless, the figures of Abraham and Isaac are hardly discernible, as, following the command, they hasten to the place of sacrifice behind the road leading onto the mountain, although this scene is usually emphatically portrayed in the compositions of the Sacrifice of Isaac. The Budapest drawing differs from the two mentioned examples in that the supporting characters in the foreground are delicately proportioned, following a new ideal of beauty, whose forming is based on the thorough study of Italian art. The master of the Budapest drawing belonged to those Flemish artists active in the first half of the sixteenth century who most successfully integrated the Italian results into their art. Alongside Barend van Orley, the foremost representative of the Flemish Renaissance, was Pieter Coecke van Aelst (1502-1550),

6 whose works offer the most convincing analogies of our drawing. Coecke with his wäde-ranging, varied activity, greatly contributed to the fact that Antwerp took an important place in European artistic life. WORKSHOP OF BAREND VAN ORLEY, THE SACRIFICE OF ABRAHAM. SCHWERIN. STAATLICHES MUSEUM