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Christ before Pontius Pilate
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Handbook Entry
Variously attributed to Hieronymus Bosch (ca. 1450–1516) or a member of his circle, <em>Christ before Pontius Pilate</em> shows the vitality of Bosch’s art just before or during the Reformation period. The artist adapts devotional imagery with half-length figures of the type used by Rogier van der Weyden and others, and embellishes the pattern with larger figures and distorted facial features. In early efforts to create grotesque physiognomies, Leonardo da Vinci made drawings studying "ideal ugliness," a counterpart to drawings of "ideal beauty," and his informal experiments seem to have been known in the North. Here the gruesome figures have ornamented their bizarre countenances with nose rings, lip piercings, and other trappings of fearsomeness. Are the reflective surfaces above Christ’s hands (possibly part of the soldier’s armor) meant to mirror our own faces? Christ is a center of calm and beauty in the midst of the howling mob that has brought him before a disdainful Pilate. The image confronts us with the degradation of fallen humanity and Christ’s knowledge of his fate. On loan to the Museum for many years before it was given, <em>Christ before Pontius Pilate</em> was for a long time the most famous European painting in the collection. Despite the change in its attribution, it still perfectly embodies the aim of a devotional image of the period, intended to provoke a powerful response in viewers even as we admire the artist’s virtuoso display of the strange spectrum of humanity. The Gothic architectural elements in the upper corners suggest the unreal, staged quality of the image, contained behind a proscenium arch. Expanding on the terse Gospel text, the artist confronts us with a theater of morality and leaves to us the choice that Pilate abdicated.
Information
ca. 1520
<p>(Colnaghi, London); ca. 1891 purchase by Allan Marquand; ca. 1922-24 gift to Princeton University Art Museum [1].</p><p>[1] A pencil annotation by Frances Follin Jones notes that a 1925 entry in the Museum's Inventory Book names Eleanor Cross Marquand (1873-1950) as the donor; later, however, Eleanor Marquand Delanoy [daughter of Allan Marquand and Eleanor Cross Marquand] said it was a gift of Allan Marquand.</p>
Allan Marquand, "A painting by Hieronymous Bosch in the Princeton Art Museum", <em>Princeton University bulletin</em> 14 (1903)., p. 41
4093 1903L. Maeterlinck, "A propos d'une oeuvre de Bosch au Musee de Gand", <em>Revue de l'art ancien et moderne</em> 20, no. 115 (Oct., 1906)., p. 302; fig. 2
4096 1906L. Maeterlinck, <em>Le genre satirique dans la peinture flamande</em>, (Bruxelles: G. van Oest & cie, 1907)., p. 231-232; pl. 25
4097 1907Paul Lafond, <em>Hieronymus Bosch: son art, son influence, ses disciples</em>, (Bruxelles; Paris: G. van Oest & cie, 1914)., p. 41-42; p. 16 (illus.)
4098 1914L. von Baldass, "Die Chronologie der Gemälde des Hieronymus Bosch: Mit einer Tafel in Lichtdruck und acht Textabbildungen", <em>Jahrbuch der Königlich Preuszischen Kunstsammlungen</em> 38 (1917): p. 177-195., p. 194
4099 1917Walter Schürmeyer, <em>Hieronymus Bosch: mit einer auswahl seiner werke in siebenundfünfzig lichtdrucktafeln</em>, (München: R. Piper & co., 1923)., p. 45
4121 1923Grete Ring, "[Rezension von:] Schürmeyer, Walter: Hieronymus Bosch",<em> Jahrbuch für Kunstwissenschaft</em> 1 (1923): p. 310-311., p. 310
4122 1923Max J. Friedländer, <em>Die altniederländische Malerei</em>, (Berlin: P. Cassirer, 1924-1937)., Vol. 13: p. 157, no. 188
4102 1924W.B. McCormick, "Princeton Museum, a workshop", <em>International studio</em> 83 (Sept., 1925)., p. 432 (illus.)
3676 1925Frank Jewett Mather Jr., "Painting",<em> Art and archaeology</em> 20, no. 3 (1925): p. 145-151., p. 145
3925 1925Harry G. Sperling, <em>Catalogue of a loan exhibition of Flemish primitives in aid of the Free Milk Fund for Babies, inc.</em>, (New York: F. Kleinberger Galleries, 1929)., no. 34 (illus.)
4092 1929Gustav Glück, <em>Aus drei jahrhunderten europäischer Malerei; mit 141 Abbildungen</em>, (Wien: A. Schroll, 1933)., p. 16
4094 1933Charles de Tolnay, <em>Hieronymus Bosch</em>, (Bâle: Les Éditions Holbein, 1937)., no. 35; p. 45, pl. 96.
4103 1937Ludwig Baldass, <em>Hieronymus Bosch</em>, (Wien: A. Schroll & Co. [1943])., p. 43, 73
4104 1943Jacques Combe, <em>Jerome Bosch</em>, (Paris: P. Tisne, 1946)., p. 67, no. 140
4095 1946Howard Daniel, <em>Jheronimus Bosch</em>, (New York: Hyperion Press, [1947])., p. 30 (illus.)
4105 1947<p>Ernest Lotthé, <em>La pensée chrétienne dans la peinture flamande et hollandaise de Van Eyck à Rembrandt (1432-1669)</em>, (Lille: S.I.L.I.C., Impr. de l’évêché, 1947).</p>, p. 206; fig. 154
4109 1947J.V.L. Brans, <em>Hieronymus Bosch (El Bosco) en el Prado y en el Escorial</em>, (Barcelona: Ediciones Omega, [1948])., p. 41
4106 1948Gustav Glück, <em>Der Weg zum Bild, Erlebtes, Erlauschtes, Erfundenes</em>, (Vienna: A. Schroll, [1948])., pl. 14
4127 1948Ernest T. DeWald,<em> Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University</em> 7, no. 2 (1948): p. 2-5., fig. 1, p. 2 (illus.); fig. 2, p. 3 (illus.)
4137 1948Jean Leymarie, <em>Jérôme Bosch</em>, (Paris: A. Somogy, [1949])., fig. 94, 95
4107 1949David M. Robb, <em>The Harper history of painting: the occidental tradition</em>, (New York: Harper, 1951)., p. 191-92; fig. 109
4108 1951Gaston van Camp, "Autonomie de Jérôme Bosch et récentes interprétations de ses oeuvres", <em>Bulletin (Musées royaux des beaux-arts de Belgique)</em> 3, no. 4 (1954)., p. 133
4111 1954Jan Bialostocki, "'Opus quinque dierum': Dürer's 'Christ among the doctors' and its sources",<em> Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes </em>22 (1959): p. 17-34., p. 21; pl. 3e
4124 1959John Ives Sewall, <em>A history of Western art</em>, (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1953)., p. 73-74, fig. 16.44
4110 1961<p>Dino Buzzati, <em>L’opera completa di Bosch</em>, (Milano: Rizzoli, 1966).</p>, no. 69
4112 1966Charles de Tolnay, <em>Hieronymus Bosch</em>, (New York: Reynal, 1966)., p. 376; cat. no. 35; p. 309 (illus.)
4114 1966H.R.H., "The Art Museum at Princeton University: a selection from the collections", <em>Art Journal</em> 26, no. 2 (Winter, 1966-1967): p. 172+174+176+178., p. 174, fig. 9
3404 1966<p>"Gallery of Mediaval and Renaissance Art: given by the Class of 1929," <em>Record of the Art Museum</em>, <em>Princeton University </em>25, no. 1/2 (1966): 20–27.</p>, p. 27 (illus.)
7770 1966Karl Arndt, "Zur Ausstellung "Jheronimus Bosch" 's-Hertogenbosch 1967",<em> Kunstchronik</em> 21, no. 1 (1968): p. 1-21., p. 18-19
4116 1968Brigitte Völker, <em>Die Entwicklung des erzählenden Halbfigurenbildes in der niederländischen Malerei des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts</em>, (Göttingen: 1968)., p. 91-92
4120 1968Walter S. Gibson, ""Imitatio Christi": "Imitatio Christi": the passion scenes of Hieronymus Bosch", <em>Simiolus</em> 6, no. 2 (1972-1973): p. 83-93., p. 86-87
4126 1972Rosemarie Schuder, <em>Hieronymus Bosch</em>, (Berlin: Union-Verlag, 1975)., p. 60-61, fig. 62
4113 1975Gerd Unverfehrt, "Zu einigen Halbfigurenbildern Hieronymus Boschs und seines Kreises", <em>Jaarboek van het Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen</em> (1975): p. 101-151., fig. 9; p. 121-129
4117 1975Jacques Chailley, <em>Jérôme Bosch et ses symboles: essai de décryptage</em>, (Bruxelles: Palais des Académies, 1978)., no. 69
4119 1978Gerd Unverfehrt, <em>Hieronymus Bosch: die Rezeption seiner Kunst im frühen 16. Jahrhundert</em>, (Berlin: Mann, 1980)., cat. no. 32; fig. 74, 27, 129-133, 146, 254
4115 1980Terada Tōru and Senzoku Nobuyuki, <em>Bossu = Bosch</em>, (Tokyo: Chūō Kōronsha, 1982)., no. 94 (illus.)
4123 1982Sixten Ringbom, <em>Icon to narrative: the rise of the dramatic close-up in fifteenth-century devotional painting</em>, (Doornspijk, The Netherlands: Davaco, 1984)., fig. 57, p. 104
4118 1984Kim H. Veltman and Kenneth D. Keele, <em>Studies on Leonardo da Vinci</em>, (München: Deutscher Kunstverlag, [1986]-)., vol. 1: pl. 67.2
4128 1986Allen Rosenbaum and Francis F. Jones,<em> Selections from The Art Museum, Princeton University, </em>(Princeton, NJ: The Art Museum, Princeton University, 1986), p. 55 (illus.)
1899 1986Robert L. Delevoy, <em>Bosch</em>, (New York: Rizzoli, 1990)., p. 53
4129 1990Betsy Rosasco, "The teaching of art and the museum tradition: Joseph Henry to Allan Marquand," in "An art museum for Princeton: the early years", special issue, <em>Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University</em> 55, no. 1/2 (1996): p. 7-52., p. 42, fig. 27
3052 1996Nadia Margolis, "Trial by passion: philology, film, and ideology in the portrayal of Joan of Arc", <em>The journal of medieval and early modern studies</em> 27, no. 3 (Fall, 1997)., p. 451; fig. 4
4130 1997Erik Larsen, <em>Hieronymus Bosch: the complete paintings by the visionary master</em>, (New York: Smithmark, 1998)., no. 34; p. 135
4135 1998Jos Koldeweij, Paul Vandenbroeck and Bernard Vermet, <em>Hieronymus Bosch: the complete paintings and drawings</em>, (Rotterdam: Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen : NAi ; Ghent: Ludion, 2001)., cat. no. 14.4
4134 2001Timothy P. Jackson, <em>The priority of love: Christian charity and social justice,</em> (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2003)., p. 167 (illus.)
80 2003Larry Silver, <em>Hieronymus Bosch</em>, (New York: Abbeville Press, 2006)., no. 262, p. 335 (illus.)
4136 2006<em>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection</em> (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), 172 (illus.)
474 2007Louise Rice, "Pomis sua nomina dervant: the emblematic thesis prints of the Roman seminary", <em>Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes </em>70 (2007): p. 195-245.<br>
877 2007<p>Fritz Koreny, ed., <em>Hieronymus Bosch: Die Zeichnungen, Werkstatt und Nachfolge bis zum Ende des 16. Jahrhunderts, </em>(Turnhout: Brepols, 2012).</p>, fig. 43, p. 50 (illus.), 455
1396 2012<em>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections </em>(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 222
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