Joiners' Guild Altarpiece

The Joiners' Guild Altarpiece is a c.1511 altarpiece by Quinten Massijs, produced for the eponymous guild in the aftermath of its split from the Coopers' Guild in 1497. It is now in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp. It is sometimes also known as the Passion Altarpiece or the Martyrdom Altarpiece after the scenes of martyrdoms of John the Baptist and John the Evangelist on the side panels.[1] Both these saints were patrons of carpenters and also appear in grisaille on the outside of the side panels. The central panel shows the Lamentation over the Dead Christ.

The new guild first approached Peterceels and Van Kessel, two carvers active in Leuven, but this and a further commission to a sculptor in Antwerp in 1503 all fell through. In 1508 the commission was transferred to Massijs, who had already produced a now-lost altarpiece showing the Descent from the Cross for the Coopers' Guild[2] The contract between the joiners' guild and Massijis still survives, stipulating a payment of 300 guilders to the artist, though when the painting was finally delivered on 26 August 1511 it decided instead to set up a fund for Quinten and Catharina, the artist's children by his first marriage to Alijt van Tuylt.[3]

The altarpiece survived a huge fire in the church nineteen years after its installation as well as a wave of iconoclasm in 1566. Both Philip II of Spain and Elizabeth I of England tried to buy the work, but Maerten de Vos managed to convince the town council to buy the work to prevent its going abroad. It was briefly shown in the city's town hall before being placed on the Besnijdeniskapel altar in its original cathedral in 1590 - that chapel was used by the city's magistrates. During the French Revolution the Antwerp-based painter Willem Herreyns prevented the work from being publicly auctioned and taken to Paris by the French occupying troops. In 1798 it was transferred to the École Centrale des Deux Nèthes. At that time the painting, its marble base and two copper covers were valued at 600 florins by the French commissioner. It finally ended up in its current home[4]


Bibliography
  • (in Dutch) A.J.J. Delen, in Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten - Antwerpen. Beschrijvende Catalogus. I. Oude meesters, 1948, p. 192-193.
  • (in Dutch) Koninklijk Muzeum van Schoone Kunsten. Beschrijvend Catalogus. I. Oude meesters, 1905, p. 204-205.
  • (in French) Catalogue du Musée d’Anvers. Publié par le Conseil d’administration de l’académie Royale des Beaux-Arts, 1857, nr. 36.
  • (in French) Catalogue du Musée d’Anvers. Publié par le Conseil d’administration de l’académie Royale des Beaux-Arts, 1849, nr. 36.
  • (in French) Catalogue du Musée d’Anvers. Publié par le Conseil d’administration de l’académie Royale des Beaux-Arts, 1845, nr. 36.
  • (in French) Notice des tableaux exposés au Musée d’Anvers, Anvers: IMPRIMERIE DE PHILIPPE VILLE, 1829, nr. 2, 3, 4.
  • (in French) Notice des Tableaux exposés au Musée d’Anvers. De l’Imprimerie de Philippe Ville, 1827, nr. 2, 3, 4.
  • (in French) Notice des tableaux dont se compose Le Musée d’Anvers, Anvers: De  l’Imprimerie de H.P. VANDER HEY, 1820, nr. 2 .
  • (in French) Notice des tableaux exposés au Musée d’Anvers, Anvers : l’imprimerie de H.P. Vander Hey, 1817, nr. 6.

References
  1. (in Dutch) André A. Moerman, in Openbaar Kunstbezit Vlaanderen 1963, p. 12-12b.
  2. According to F. Prims, ‘Quinten Matsys, een onbegrepen meteoor’, Antwerpiensia, XXII, 1951, pp. 162-163, this related to a commission for the church of Sint-Annaretabel in Leuven; Silver 1984, p. 54, n. 45; Maximiliaan Martens, in Reünie. Van Quinten Massijs tot Peter Paul Rubens. Meesterwerken uit het Koninklijk Museum terug in de Kathedraal, 2009, p. 77-81; Staatsblad 21-04-2009, page 32197; Topstukken, 2009; Nanny Schrijvers, in Het Museumboek. Hoogtepunten uit de verzameling, 2003, p. 48-49 (original version); Nanny Schrijvers, in Vouwblad van de Educatieve dienst Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen. Quinten Massijs, 1987.
  3. Transcript in P. Génard, ‘Bescheeden rakende Quinten Massys’, De Vlaemsche School, XI, 1863, pp. 127; Maximiliaan Martens, in Reünie. Van Quinten Massijs tot Peter Paul Rubens. Meesterwerken uit het Koninklijk Museum terug in de Kathedraal, 2009, p. 77-81; Nanny Schrijvers, in Vouwblad van de Educatieve dienst Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen. Quinten Massijs, 1987; André A. Moerman, in Openbaar Kunstbezit Vlaanderen 1963, p. 12-12b; https://www.kmska.be/nl/collectie/highlights/Schrijnwerkers.html
  4. (in Dutch) P. Génard, ‘Bescheeden rakende de schilderij “De Nood Gods”, Quinten Massijs’, De Vlaemsche School, XIV 1868, pp. 50-52; F.J. van den Branden, Geschiedenis der Antwerpsche Schilderschool, Antwerpen, 1883, pp. 61-64, n. I; J. Vervaet, ‘Catalogus van de altaarstukken van gilden en ambachten uit de Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk  te Antwerpen en bewaard in het Koninklijk Museum’, Jaarboek Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen, 1976, pp. 205; Maximiliaan Martens, in Reünie. Van Quinten Massijs tot Peter Paul Rubens. Meesterwerken uit het Koninklijk Museum terug in de Kathedraal, 2009, p. 77-81; André A. Moerman, in Openbaar Kunstbezit Vlaanderen 1963, p. 12-12b; Karel van Mander, Het schilder-boeck, Haarlem 1604.
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