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

accompanied by angels singing and playing music. The simple sacerdotal garment was abandoned for a regal ornate one, a crown was placed upon Christ's head, the halo was transformed into a rayed nimbus, and, the most important with regard to the Budapest picture, the metal globe was replaced by a gleaming crystal ball, surmounted by a longstemmed cross, reaching out to the heavens.

40 Instead of holding it, Christ rests His left hand upon the globe, with the stem of the cross between His thumb and forefinger. The motif of the left hand resting upon the crystal globe recurs in the Budapest panel, too, with the difference being that here the cross is caught between the forefinger and the middle finger. Appearing as a sovereign, Memling's Salvator amalgamates the features of the Rogerian prototype with those of the one by the Master of Flémalle. However, the influence of the majestic divine figure in the Ghent Altarpiece is also clear.

41 The tradition of the half-length Salvator Mundi was enriched in the early 16th century by the important innovations of Joos van Cleve and, above all, Quentin Massys. Both artists reverted to the prototype of the Master of Flémalle by depicting the Salvator accompanied by the interceding Virgin, with the only difference being that the composition was divided into two separate panels, together forming a diptych. The Salvator of Joos van Cleve, dating from around 1512, is in the tradition of the bust-type representations of the theme. The physiognomy resembles that of the Eyckian Holy Face, however, the head is of a slightly rounded shape rather than long.

42 Christ's long dark hair cascades in curls over His shoulders. His mantle is gathered up with a palmsized cloak brooch, inset with gems. His right is raised in blessing, His left rests upon a crystal globe, in which a landscape and a cruciform frame of a window is reflected, the latter being a common feature of Salvator Mundi images. The globe is surmounted by an elaborately decorated jewelled cross, the stem of which is, similarly to that in the picture by Memling, held between Christ's thumb and forefinger. The diptych preserved in the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Künsten, Antwerp, representing Christ the Saviour and the Virgin interceding to him in prayer (fig. 43) is one of the chefs-d'oeuvres of Quentin Massys' early period.

43 The compositional formula that crops the figure in line with the shoulders (Schulterbiist), employed earlier by the Master of Flémalle in his painting now in Philadelphia, recurs in Massys' painting, where both figures are represented this way. However, other features have their roots in the Eyckian tradition. The iconic bust-type portrait of Christ derives from one of the Holy Face images by Jan van Eyck. Both in facial type and figure length the 40 The textual source of Memling's image is a passage by Willelmus Durandus (d. 1296), in which the author, contemplating how to represent Christ, concludes that one of the possible solutions is to have "Dei filius super Angelos regnans" (Rationale divinorum ojficiorum, Strassburg 1493,1, iii, 5). Cf. Ringbom, op. cit. (cfr. n. 10), 172. 41 Cf. Gottlieb, op. cit. (cfr. n.10), 316-7, and L. Baldass, Memling, Wien 1942, 45. 42 Paris, Louvre, inv. 2030. Further copies of the composition are: 1. Formerly Sedelmeyer Collection, Paris (Sedelmeyer Sale, 3-5 June 1907, lot 238, as by Quentin Massys); 2. Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, inv. 271; 3. Prado, Madrid, inv. 2654; 4. Museo Lazaro Galdiano, Madrid, inv. 3052. Cf. Friedländer, op. cit. (cfr. n. 24), IXa (Joos van Cleve, Jan Provost, Joachim Patinier), Leyden 1972, pi. 53, fig. 34 A-B. 43 A. de Bosque, Quentin Massys, Bruxelles 1975, 123-6, figs. 45-6. S 6