The Lamentation after Hugo van der Goes
A composition
that the market knows well
For five centuries, copies of this lost composition have changed hands across Europe's great auction houses. Each sale tells us something about what a panel like this is worth — and to whom.
Copy after Hugo van der Goes — XVI/XVII c.
Lamentation of Christ — fragmentary
52 × 63 cm
Panel
Fragmentary copy after the lost original. Lot description cites: Ghent MSK (56 × 43.6 cm, inv. 1951-M), Bruges Sint-Janshospitaal (65 × 82.5 cm, inv. SJ0190.I), Amsterdam Rijksmuseum (84 × 105 cm, inv. SK-A-4488). Sold below estimate.
Est. €2,000–3,000
Realised: 1,700 €
Hugo van der Goes — fragment, possibly autograph
Virgin and Saint John
42 × 46.1 cm
Oil on canvas
The only surviving fragment possibly painted by Hugo van der Goes himself
After Hugo van der Goes
Lamentation
54 × 72 cm
Panel
Tradition 1 — Friedlander 23a, the reference version. First copy on which Friedlander (1904) restored the attribution to Van der Goes.
After Hugo van der Goes
Descente de Croix
Panel
After Hugo van der Goes
Lamentation (inv. 18.725)
Panel
After Hugo van der Goes
Lamentation (inv. 281)
99 × 123 cm
Oil on panel
Exhibited at the 1902 Bruges Primitives exhibition. Tournai holds two near-identical versions.
Now consider this panel
The painting in question
Lamentation of Christ
after Hugo van der Goes
The parqueting alone — a costly, specialised intervention — tells us this panel was considered worth preserving.