The Resurrection

Sir Frederick Lucas Cook, Doughty House, Richmond, Surrey (1901–d. 1920; cat. 1915, vol. 3, no. 423, as Early French School); his son, Sir Herbert Frederick Cook, Doughty House (1920–d. 1939); his son, Sir Francis Ferdinand Maurice Cook, Doughty House (1939–58; his sale, Sotheby's, London, June 25, 1958, no. 53, as French School); Mr. and Mrs. Jack Linsky, New York (until his d. 1980); The Jack and Belle Linsky Foundation, New York (1980–82)

THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT, BY TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION BY THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART.

Maurice W. Brockwell in A Catalogue of the Paintings at Doughty House, Richmond, & Elsewhere in the Collection of Sir Frederick Cook, Bt., visconde de Monserrate. Ed. Sir Herbert Frederick Cook. Vol. 3, London, 1915, p. 42, no. 423, ill. p. 40, attributes this picture to the "Early French School" and suggests it is a sixteenth-century archaizing version of an earlier work; admits, however, that it is difficult to establish a certain geographic origin for it; notes that it was brought from France by its previous owner and sold to Cook in 1901.

Chandler Rathfon Post. A History of Spanish Painting. Vol. 7, The Catalan School in the Late Middle Ages. Cambridge, Mass., 1938, part 1, p. 170, fig. 40A, illustrates this panel as "Jaime Huguet (?)" and notes that, "patently belonging to the Catalan school of the middle of the Quattrocento, it displays to us types directly prophetic of those of Huguet's maturity"; also finds counterparts in the figures of the soldiers here to many figures of the Saint Bartholemew retable [see Ref. Cornudella i Carré 2008]; remarks that "the landscape and especially the trees suggest the influence of Huguet's probable early companion, the Sant Quirse Master".

Juan Antonio Gaya Nuño. La pintura española fuera de España. Madrid, 1958, p. 212, no. 1490, as from the school of Huguet.

Guy C. Bauman in The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1984, pp. 112–13, no. 41, ill., catalogues it as the work of an unknown French or German painter, and places it in the late 15th century; notes that the stylized tree forms are found in pictures of this period from eastern Germany, but the closest analogies to its technique are paintings from eastern France.

Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 351, ill.

Rafael Cornudella i Carré. E-mail to Carl Strehlke. April 28, 2008, notes that he saw this painting on a visit to the Museum and that in his opinion it is the work of an Aragonese painter, related to a group of works that Gudiol and others attribute to Huguet; sees a particular affinity with panels of a dispersed altarpiece with the life of Saint Bartholomew, four scenes of which are in the Museo de Bellas Artes, Bilbao, and two formerly in the Torelló collection (see photographs in Paintings Department archives); notes that although it is on exhibition, it is not an exceptional work.

Rafael Cornudella i Carré. E-mail to Mary Sprinson de Jesús. May 26, 2008, suggests dating it about 1440–60, or from the mid-fifteenth century.

Guadaira Macías Prieto. "Noves aportacions al catàleg de dos mestres aragonesos anònims, el Mestre de Sant Jordi i la princesa i el Mestre de Sant Bartomeu." Butlletí del Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya 11 (2010), pp. 50–51, 53–54, 60 nn. 46, 52, 53, p. 61 nn. 46, 52, 53, fig. 12 (color), attributes it to the Aragonese Master of Saint Bartholomew.

Most of this picture, the part that is original, is very well preserved. The panel probably had an attached frame, the upper inside edge of which was arched, perhaps scalloped, and followed very closely an arc circumscribing the tops of the trees and Christ's staff and halo. The gilding in the upper reaches of the ground and the blue, brocade-patterned field are entirely false. The banner of Christ's staff has been completely repainted since 1915 over faint traces of the original paint. The foliage of some of the trees appears to be retouched. The helmet of the soldier at the left and the armor of the soldiers at the right are silver leaf that has oxidized. These passages, dark brown today, originally would have had a shiny metallic appearance. Seven old square nails protrude from the back of the panel, where a horizontal brace once joined the three boards comprising it. The nails have caused raised knotholelike protuberances to appear on the painting's surface about twelve inches from the lower edge. (Bauman 1984)

This work may not be lent, by terms of its acquisition by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.