Master of the Lille Adoration

The Master of the Lille Adoration (active c. 1510–1530), was an Early Netherlandish painter active in Antwerp, as one of the Antwerp Mannerists. He was first suggested as a distinct but unknown figure in 1995 in an article by Ellen Konowitz, a proposal which has been widely accepted. In 2014, Christie's gave his dates as "active Antwerp by c. 1523/35". Most of the works the new master has now been "given" were previously attributed to Dirck Vellert, the leading Antwerp stained-glass maker of the day, on the assumption that he also painted. His notname comes from the Adoration of the Shepherds in the Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille, "as the painting which perhaps best demonstrates his individual style". Until 1995 this was attributed to Vellert, who was clearly an influence. As described by Konowicz, the master's works share the Antwerp Mannerists' "style characterized by an artificial elegance. Their paintings typically feature elongated figures posed in affected, twisting, postures, colorful ornate costumes, fluttering drapery, Italianate architecture decorated with grotesque ornament, and crowded groups of figures...". However, in both the master's works and Vellert's, the figures are in a different style "with a bulk and masculinity that is foreign to the slender, graceful figures" of the Mannerists. Differences between the master and Vellert include the paintings' "depiction of tensely gesturing hands, often with palms turned outward and the fingers splayed", as in the Lille and Rotterdam pictures, a "trademark". The paintings show a "predeliction" for "grotesque, contorted heads", as in the kneeling Magus in Rotterdam. Other traits are a liking for a low viewpoint, small pieces of trompe-l'œil, and elements projecting over a ledge, such as the kneeling shepherd's foot at Lille. He should not be confused with the contemporary Master of the Antwerp Adoration, another Antwerp Mannerist.