The Artist: For a biography of Dieric Bouts, see
30.95.280The Painting: Christopher, a Canaanite of giant proportions, decided he would offer his services to the greatest ruler of all. Having encountered a king who was afraid of Satan, Christopher elected to serve the devil. But the saint soon discovered that the sight of the Crucifix struck fear into Satan’s heart and so gave his loyalty to Christ instead. To demonstrate his great devotion, Christopher, whose name translates to ‘Christ-bearer’, offered to ferry travelers across a dangerous river.
Dominating the Lehman panel, the saint struggles to carry the Christ Child across a placid river towards a bank scattered with tiny gemstones. In the distance, two birds float on the water and a boat with three passengers glides towards its destination. Delicate wisps of cloud are scattered across the pale blue sky, an anachronistic interpretation of a subject that, according to the Golden Legend description, took place at dusk.[1] The hermit, whose lantern was intended to guide the saint in his river crossing, stands on a rocky outcrop behind the central pair. In this depiction, however, the hermit’s weakly-glowing light can hardly be seen to assist Christopher in his labors. This compositional decision may reflect the artist’s awareness of the
Saint Christopher by Aelbert Bouts (Galleria Estense, Modena) [See Comparative Image, fig. 1], where the saint is shown toiling under the bright blue sky of midday.[2] The inclusion of the river bank at lower left of the Lehman picture reminds the viewer that upon completing the crossing, Christ will reveal his identity to Christopher, explaining that the increasingly arduous journey was due to the saint bearing the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Veneration of Saint Christopher was widespread throughout the fifteenth century. Depictions of Christopher were quite popular because the faithful could gain protection from sudden death without confession simply by gazing upon his image. For this reason, images of Saint Christopher often adorned the exteriors of churches and other buildings so that passersby could benefit from the saint’s shielding powers. Christopher also offered travelers protection on their journey; the size of the Lehman painting underscores its function in a more intimate setting, as the object of private devotions, possibly for use during a voyage. The choice of saint may also reflect the identity of the painting’s commissioner, who could have requested an image of his patron saint. On the other hand, it may have been produced for the open market to be sold with other paintings of popular themes.
Attribution and Date: The Lehman picture reveals the artist’s awareness of two other paintings of Saint Christopher: the right wing of the
Adoration of the Magi triptych (also known as the
Pearl of Brabant, now at the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek, Munich) [See Comparative Image, fig. 2] and the panel now in the Galleria Estense, Modena discussed above.[3] Both paintings, attributed to Dieric Bouts and Aelbert Bouts respectively, likely derive from a now-lost Eyckian prototype.[4] The drawing of
Saint Christopher in the Louvre (INV 20664, Recto) best preserves this initial model [See Comparative Image, fig. 2].
Comparing the Lehman
Saint Christopher to the Pearl of Brabant wing and the Modena panel helps to clarify its relationship to the Bouts workshop. It is clear that the Lehman painter was looking to the Munich work when forming the central figures. However, for the setting, the painter used the Modena panel as his general model. It thus appears that the Lehman painter knew both the Modena and Munich
Saint Christophers, perhaps through workshop drawings (like the aforementioned Louvre sheet) that reproduced each composition. While the Lehman painter employed a hybrid Bouts-based design for his depiction of the saint, in execution his abilities fell short of the masterful paint handling and naturalistic effects achieved by Dieric or Aelbert.
Based on the similarities discussed above, scholars connect the Lehman
Saint Christopher to the circle of Dieric Bouts and his son Aelbert, who, along with his brother Dieric the Younger, learned the craft of painting from the elder Bouts. Wolff proposed an attribution to a late follower of Dieric Bouts who was active in the painter’s workshop when it was being run by Aelbert.[5] More recently, Valentine Henderiks attributed the Lehman painting to a follower of Dieric Bouts and proposed a date of creation after 1485, the date she gave to the Modena
Saint Christopher.[6] These hypotheses are supported by the dendrochronological evidence, which suggests an earliest probable dating in the 1480s.[7]
Nenagh Hathaway, 2018
[1] Dieric Bouts’s depiction of the subject in the right panel of his
Adoration of the Magi triptych (also called the
Pearl of Brabant) features a theatrically darkening sky, which lends the scene a dramatic tone. This work is discussed in more detail below as it pertains to the Lehman painting’s attribution. A 1483 English edition of the Golden Legend’s Life of Saint Christopher can be found at
Golden Legend Volume 4[2] This painting is illustrated in Maurits Smeyers, Dirk Bouts: peintre du silence, Tournai, 1998, p. 145, fig. 51.
[3] These relationships have been noted by Wolff, Sprinson de Jesus and Henderiks, see Refs. Wolff, 1998, pp. 94-95; Sprinson de Jesus in Ainsworth and Christiansen, 1998, pp. 132-133 and Henderiks, 2011, pp. 97-99.
[4] The attribution of the
Adoration of the Magi triptych has been disputed, with some scholars giving parts of the project to a close follower of Dieric Bouts, called the Master of the Arrest of Christ by Schöne. For the Master of the Arrest of Christ see Refs., Schöne, 1938, pp. 37-42, 163-165.
[5] Wolff also identified the same painter at work in a
Virgin and Child now at the Art Gallery of Ontario, an attribution that requires further analysis to properly assess. See Refs., Wolff, 1998, p. 95. This attribution was echoed by Mary Sprinson de Jesus in
From Van Eyck to Bruegel. See Refs., Ainsworth and Christiansen, 1998, p. 133.
[6] See Refs., Henderiks, 2011, pp. 97-98.
[7] Dendrochronology was performed by Dr. Peter Klein. The painting support is Baltic oak with an earliest felling date of 1463. More plausible felling dates range between 1467…1469…1473 + x. Given a minimum of two years of seasoning, an earliest date of creation is possible from 1465. Assuming a median of fifteen sapwood rings and ten years seasoning (as was probably the case in the fifteenth century), a creation is plausible from 1479 onward. For the full report see the 1975.1.115 object file, Klein’s report dated 12 May 1997.
References Wolfgang Schöne.
Dieric Bouts und seine Schule. Berlin and Leipzig. 1938, pp. 143-45, 206, nos. 27a, 124, pl. 46c.
Katharine Baetjer.
European Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: by artists born in or before 1865. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1980, p. 17, ill. p. 339.
Guy C. Bauman and Liedtke, Walter A.
Flemish Painting in America: A Survey of Early Netherlandish and Flemish Paintings in the Public Collections of North America. Antwerp: Fonds Mercator, 1992, p. 318, no. 122, ill.
Katharine Baetjer.
European Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: by artists born in or before 1865. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1995, p. 258, ill.
Martha Wolff in Charles Sterling (et.al).
The Robert Lehman Collection. Vol.2, Fifteenth- to Eighteenth Century European Paintings. New York: the Metropolitan Museum of Art in association with Princeton: Princeton University Press 1998, pp. 92-95, no. 17, ill.
Mary Sprinson de Jesus in Maryan Ainsworth and Keith Christiansen.
From Van Eyck to Bruegel: Early Netherlandish Painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exhibition catalogue (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1998, pp. 132-133, no. 17, ill.
Valentine Henderiks.
Albrecht Bouts (1451/55-1549). Brussels: Centre d'étude des Primitifs flamands, 2011, pp. 97-99, ill. 61.
