Golden opportunity to save rare winter crucifixion
163/06
Culture Minister, David Lammy, has placed a temporary export bar on The Crucifixion, a painting by the Netherlandish artist Karel van Mander the Elder. This will provide a last chance to raise the money and save the painting, which is the only known work of this artist existing in the UK.
The Minister’s ruling follows a recommendation by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, run by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. The Committee recommended that the export decision be deferred on the grounds that the painting is of outstanding significance for the study of Dutch art in the Golden Age.
Karel van Mander the Elder is principally known as the author of the Schilder-boeck (1604) which contains advice on the practice of painting that greatly influenced his contemporaries and successors, in particular those who contributed to the Golden Age of Dutch art. The Crucifixion, an ambitious and atmospheric painting and the only known work by van Mander in the United Kingdom, is an exceptional example of the artist’s work, both in its subject matter and its quality. The snow-covered background and the onlookers’ apparent indifference to the tragedy before them enhance the painting’s dark mood. Its retention would provide an exciting opportunity to study how van Mander put his theories into practice.
Van Mander was a Mennonite who was forced to flee the southern Netherlands for religious reasons during a troubled period of political and religious turmoil in the Netherlands at the end of the sixteenth century. The Crucifixion, one of only around thirty surviving works by van Mander, raises questions about the artist’s personal faith and the depiction of religious imagery and possibly the artist's thoughts about the state of the world at that time. It also combines references to many of the major traditions and influences in Flemish landscape and recalls works by Breughel, Lucas van Leyden and Jacques de Gheyn.
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The decision on the export licence application for The Crucifixion will be deferred for a period ending on 18 February 2007 inclusive. This period may be extended until 18 May 2007 inclusive if a serious intention to raise funds with a view to making an offer to purchase the painting at the recommended price of £ 471,775 (including VAT) is expressed.
Anyone interested in making an offer to purchase the painting should contact the owner’s agent through:
The Secretary
The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest
Museums, Libraries and Archives Council,
Victoria House,
Southampton Row
London WC1B 4EA
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Notes to editors
1. Media enquiries on the operation of and casework arising from the work of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest (RCEWA) should be directed to MLA Media Relations Manager, Anne Marie Todaro, on 020 7273 1472, or by email at the following address: annemarie.todaro@mla.gov.uk
2. The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest is an independent body, run by MLA, which advises the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on whether a cultural object, intended for export, is of national importance under specified criteria. Where the Committee finds that an object meets one or more of the criteria, it will normally recommend that the decision on the export licence application should be deferred for a specified period. An offer may then be made from within the United Kingdom at or above the fair market price.
3. Pictures of this item are available. Please email annemarie.todaro@mla.gov.uk (MLA no longer subscribes to the PixMedia website service.)
4. Karel van Mander (1548-1606) was a painter, draughtsman, art theorist, historian, playwright and poet. He travelled to Italy in 1573 and spent time in Florence and Rome before working his way moving North to Vienna and eventually settling in Haarlem. Although he worked on a variety of commissions and became a member of Harrlem’s Guild of St Luke he ultimately died a poor man in Amsterdam.
5. The painting is in oil on oak panel and measures 67 x 117.5 cm. It is signed and dated Kvmander/1599. It is in good condition and has secure provenance dating back to the seventeenth century.
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