Four Versions of the Christus by the Massys: Deciphering the Meaning of the Letters

The Flemish painters Quentin Massys and his son Jan Massys appear to be the authors of four works with a very similar motif, the bust of Jesus Christ. These canvasses can be found in different locations today: the Prado Museum in Madrid (Spain), the RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History of The H...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Vicente Jara Vera, Carmen Sánchez Ávila
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2017-02-01
Series:Religions
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/8/2/19
Description
Summary:The Flemish painters Quentin Massys and his son Jan Massys appear to be the authors of four works with a very similar motif, the bust of Jesus Christ. These canvasses can be found in different locations today: the Prado Museum in Madrid (Spain), the RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History of The Hague (Netherlands), the Kunstmuseum Winterthur (Switzerland), and another one in a private collection. Written on the edge of the robe around the neck, these canvasses display a series of Hebrew or pseudo-Hebrew letters. We offer the complete solution deciphered, until today incomplete, for three of them, with a very similar letter sequence. Finally, we resolve completely one of the canvasses, which, until today, had no known solution.
ISSN:2077-1444