Master of The Legend of St. Magdalena

End XVth Century - Brussels - beginning XVIth Century


This painter from Brussels was called after a large altar-piece “The Legend of St. Magdalena”, whose different panels are in Vienna, Budapest, Philadelphia and Copenhague.
He was in first place a portraitist and he could be perhaps also identified with the “Master of the Princely Portraits”. Sometimes he is also identified with Peter van Coninxloo, who was the Court painter of Philip the Great, or with Barend van der Stockt.
At his beginning, his style is very close to Roger van der Weyden. Then he comes closer to the italianate manner of Barend van Orley. His schematic style tries to simplify the volumes, painting round faces with features of an extreme precision.
His talent as a portraitist made him a painter travelling from one European Court to another, as we can judge from the notoriety of his models.