The Temptation of Christ
Juan de Flandes·c. 1500/1504
Historical Context
Juan de Flandes's Temptation of Christ from around 1500-04 was likely one of the original panels from Queen Isabella's portable altarpiece, depicting Satan's three temptations of Christ in the desert after his forty days of fasting. The Temptation narrative — Satan offering bread, a miraculous leap, and worldly power — was one of the most theologically charged episodes in the Gospels, pitting Satan's corruption against Christ's divine authority. Juan de Flandes sets the scene in a rocky landscape with architectural elements that suggest both desert isolation and the world's buildings visible from the high point, combining careful spatial observation with the theological narrative's requirement for emblematic setting.
Technical Analysis
The oil on panel demonstrates Juan de Flandes's exquisite miniaturist technique, with precise landscape rendering, luminous color, and the devotional clarity suited to the small format of Isabella's personal altarpiece.
Provenance
Queen Isabel of Castile [d. 1504], castle of Toro, Zamora province. Diego Flores, by 13 March 1505, possibly as agent for Margaret of Austria.[1] Margaret of Austria [d. 1530], Regent of the Netherlands, Mechelen, inventories of 1516 and 1524.[2] Her nephew, Emperor Charles V [d. 1558]; given to his wife Isabel of Portugal [d. 1539], along with several other panels from Isabel of Castile's retable made up into an altarpiece;[3] their son, King Philip II of Spain [d. 1598], Madrid.[4] Oderisio de Sangro, Prince of Fondi, Naples; (sale, Galerie Sangiorgi, Rome, 22 April-1 May 1895, no. 738, with no. 738bis, _The Marriage at Cana_, as Bolognese school, bought in), until at least 1897.[5] (Stefano Bardini [1836-1922], Florence); Vernon James Watney [d. 1928], Cornbury Park, Oxfordshire, from 1899;[6] his son, Oliver Vernon Watney [1902-1966], Cornbury Park, Oxfordshire; (his estate sale, Christie, Manson and Woods, London, 23 June 1967, no. 32, together with no. 33, _The Marriage at Cana_); (Thos. Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London); purchased 1967 by NGA. [1] Francisco Javier Sánchez Cantón, "El retablo de la Reina Católica," _Archivo Español de Arte y Arqueología_ 6 (1930): 97-103. [2] André Joseph Ghislain le Glay, _Correspondance de Maximilien Ier et de Marguérite d'Autriche..._, 2 vols. (Paris, 1839), 2: 481-482. [3] For the document listing goods sent by Charles V to Isabel of Portugal, see Rudolf Beer, "Acten, Regesten und Inventare aus dem Archivo General zu Simancas," _Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien_ 12 (1891), CXX-CXXIII. Beer places the undated document in 1526, the year of Charles V's marriage to Isabel of Portugal, and considers the list to represent wedding presents. Francisco Javier Sánchez Cantón, "El retablo de la Reina Católica," _Archivo Español de Arte y Arqueología_ 6 (1930), 106, disputes the dating of the shipment before Margaret's death. [4] Inventory of 1598, no. 45. Rudolf Beer, "Inventare aus dem Archivo del Palacio zu Madrid," _Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien_ 14 (1893), X. [5] According to Gustav Glück, "Kinderbildnisse aus der Sammlung Margaretens von Österreich," _Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien_ 25 (1905), 228. [6] According to label formerly affixed to back of panel which states, "...bought by J.W. from Bardini, the dealer, in Florence, in 1899..." (The Getty Provenance Index indicates that Lady Gwendolyn Margaret Watney, wife of Vernon James Watney, inherited the painting upon the death of her husband in 1928. She then passed it on to their son Oliver Vernon at her death in 1943. The Index cites their "Collector's File under Watney family" as the source for this information.)
