A new Mabuse?
March 2 2011
A reader has kindly sent me this image, which is an old photo of a painting stolen from a Croatian monastery in 1972. The Madonna and Child was believed by the Franciscan monks of Dubrovnik to be by Mabuse, or Jan Gossart, the star of the National Gallery's new show.
Of course, it is impossible to tell at this distance, but the painting is certainly Mabuse/Gossart/Gossaert-like. The composition is similar to that seen in the c.1520 Mauritshuis/Rijksmuseum Virgin and Child with the Veil, which is no.10 in Maryan Ainsworth's splendid new monograph.
The features and drapery in the Dubrovnik picture seem rather hard, and the pattern was quite widely copied. Nonetheless, it is worth a closer look - so if you know where it is, pray tell... [More Below]
Jadranka Beresford-Pierse, who kindly sent me the Mabuse image, is particularly keen to know where this painting by Robert Edge Pine is. It is a portrait of Roger Boscovich, a Croatian polymath who was painted by Pine in London in 1760. This painting was also stolen in 1972. Please spread the image far and wide, and send any hints to Jadranka at the International Trust for Croatian Monuments.
