The Sleeper

La Déploration du Christ — after Hugo van der Goes

Photograph to be replaced with professional image

The panel

Lamentation of Christ
after Hugo van der Goes

AttributionFlemish School, circle / follower of Hugo van der Goes

Date16th–17th century

SubjectLamentation — 6 figures, ornamental gold ground

SupportOak panel

Dimensions50 × 65 cm (panel) · 62 × 77 cm (frame)

ConservationParqueted — crossed wooden battens, verso

Inscription"Janssens" — verso, cursive

ProvenanceFamily collection · lot 03059 · 520 F.

The parquetage — a costly, irreversible conservation intervention — tells us this panel was considered worth preserving by someone with professional knowledge.

The verso

What the back of the panel says

ParquetageCrossed wooden battens fixed to the thinned back of the panel. Standard conservation practice in European institutional collections from the 18th and 19th centuries. Irreversible — no conservator does this today. Its presence confirms the panel was in serious professional hands and was considered worth preserving.

"Janssens" inscriptionCursive manuscript inscription visible bottom-right of the frame — a Flemish-Belgian name. Designates a former owner, restorer, or framer. Not yet identified.

Handwritten numberA number readable on the right edge of the frame — possibly a lot reference or inventory number from a prior sale or collection.

The same parquetage profile appears in the Hampel Munich 2016 lot description — estimated at €40,000–60,000.

The composition in context

Two traditions, one lost original

More than 200 copies of this composition survive across Europe. They broadly divide into two visual lineages — each copying a different intermediate model of the lost original.

This painting

La Déploration du Christ

Flemish School · 16th–17th c.
50 × 65 cm · oak panel · parqueted · Tradition 2

Closest to the Bowes Museum group — the parallel 'Tradition 2' lineage. Six figures here, not a direct copy: a related regional model, still under study.