Altdorfer: A Mystery In The U.S., Pun Intended

The post I wrote over the weekend, about my Wall Street Journal Masterpiece column describing Albrecht Altdorfer’s Battle of Issus, prompted a few readers to write to me about other Altdorfer paintings. American museums (Cleveland, the Met, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, among them) own only drawings, prints, woodcuts and etchings by Altdorfer — no paintings (a few examples of which below).

Then today, I read the Washington Post‘s article about a fantastic rumor that the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, may be in possession of a painting by Leonardo da Vinci. The museum is said to be in the process of authenticating it.

Which reminded me of a tidbit I did not use in my Altdorfer article: according to Christopher Wood, the Yale professor whom I quoted on Altdorfer’s role as a founder of the Danube school, there may be an Altdorfer painting in the U.S. afterall. Here’s what he told me:

The National Gallery of Art in Washington owns a strange work very close to Altdorfer consisting of a panel of the Fall of Man (Adam and Eve) with panels representing “The Reign of Bacchus.” It has never been properly explained. Actually the Fall of Man panel was once two panels, now glued together. Complicated. Anyway, scholars are bothered by it and prefer to attribute it to a follower or workshop associate, but I am open to the idea of Altdorfer as author.

I went straightaway to the NGA website, where I found this: 

Here’s how the NGA describes the work: “Workshop of Albrecht Altdorfer — German, 1480 or before – 1538. The Fall of Man [middle panel], c. 1535. oil on hardboard transferred from panel. middle panel: 39 x 31.5 cm (15 3/8 x 12 3/8 in.). Samuel H. Kress Collection
1952.5.31.b — Not on View.”

The NGA also attributes the left side panel — The Rule of Bacchus, c. 1535 — and the right side panel — The Rule of Mars, c. 1535 — to Altdorfer’s workshop. Their accession numbers are 1952.5.31.a and 1952.5.31.c, respectively (thus all from Kress).

I’m no expert, but I certainly wouldn’t rule out Wood’s opinion. The earlier end of that date estimate is troubling, though: Altdorfer was born around 1480 and died in 1538.

Here’s another interesting fact: In 1980, when London’s National Gallery acquired Christ Taking Leave of His Mother for an undisclosed price, UK newspapers speculated the number as $12 million, which would have made it the most expensive painting known to have changed hands at the time, according to Art + Auction. In today’s dollars, that sum would be about $31.5 million.

Finally, a few examples of Altdorfer’s paintings. 

Here’s Susanna in the Bath and the Stoning of the Elders from the Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s Lovers, from the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest.

And here’s Christ on the Cross, also from the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lovely, aren’t they?  

Photos: Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Alte Pinakothek, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest