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
In addition to the standing and half-length, bust-type formulae, a third iconographie tradition of the Salvator Mundi is also known from the Low Countries, namely that showing the Saviour full-length but sitting or enthroned instead of standing. This formula was never used as an independent composition, only as an accessory motif. This type, reminiscent of the Pantokrator images, may have derived from the divine figure in the Ghent Altarpiece, His right raised in blessing and His left holding an elaborately decorated, jewelled sceptre. The prototype of the Salvator Mundi images appeared already in the very same altarpiece, left of the Deesis group, next to the Adam panel, where one of the singing angels, namely the second from the left in the first row, wears a huge cloak brooch, which seems to incorporate an early version of the Salvator Mundi images. The sitting divine figure here raises His right hand in blessing, while He holds on His knees the open book of the Pantokrator image, to be replaced with the globe in later Salvator Mundi images. 48 An image of the enthroned Saviour, however, appears with the usual attributes in a panel representing the Marriage of the Virgin by the Master of Flémalle; He is depicted as a trumeau sculpture beneath the painted arch above the main entrance of the Gothic architecture. The figure is shown sitting under a sculpted stone canopy, raising His right hand in blessing and holding a globe on His left knee. 49 To His right is a representation of Moses with the tablets of the law. The juxtaposition of the two figures, according to the iconographie program of the altarpiece, reflects the counterposing of the Old and New Testaments.Connected to Eyckian prototypes as well as to the Deesis group of the Ghent Altarpiece or iconic depictions of the Holy Face, the Antwerp diptych of Massys also contains a similar image of the Salvator Mundi. The image at the intersection of the arms of the elaborately decorated, jewelled cross held by Christ in His left hand shows the enthroned Saviour with a globe on His left knee and His right hand raised in blessing (fig. 46). Although the figure resembles that of God in the Ghent altarpiece, His attributes identify Him as Salvator Mundi. The same image of the enthroned Saviour recurs in another painting by Massys, the triptych now in the Musée des Beaux Arts, Lyon, where it forms part of the painted architecture. 51 The sculpted image here is placed just above the head of the Virgin holding the infant Christ in her hands. This type is unusual in not only the Low Countries but other lands, as well. One of the rare instances is an engraving by the Master E S, who was active in the German territories in the years 1440-68. The engraving shows the enthroned Saviour, surrounded by the twelve apostles, turning His body slightly towards the left. His shoulders are covered with a mantle that is gathered up by a huge cloak brooch, similar to that in the easel paintings. His right is raised in blessing; His left rests upon the 46. Detail of fig. 43 48 O. Pacht, Van Eyck and the Founders of Early Netherlandish Painting, London 1999, pi. 25. 49 Prado, Madrid, inv. 1.887. Cf. De Patoul, B. - Van Schoute, R., Les primitifs flamands et leur temps. Louvain-la-Neuve 1994, 213. 50 This idea also appears, for example, in Massys' Raleigh panel. Cf. Ferber, op. cit. (cfr. n. 32), 37-9. 51 Friedländer, op. cit. (cfr. n. 24), VII (Quentin Massys), Leyden 1971, pi. 31, fig. 27.
