Der Einzug Christi in Jerusalem

This work by an unknown Netherlandish artist was

first listed as Le triomphe de Jesus Christ à la plume

sur parchemin in the Cahiers, the Albertina’s oldest

inventory list. Scholarly interest in the sheet has

largely focused on efforts to attribute it to various

Flemish artists active around 1500. Based on

stylistic characteristics, the names argued for and

against include Albrecht Bouts (1451/55–1549),1 Aert

Ortkens (c. 1475–c. 1540),2 Pseudo-Ortkens,3 and

the young Bernard van Orley (1490–1542).4 In fact,

these efforts bespeak the drawing’s artistic incongruency.

Its composition combines a Renaissance

approach to space and architecture with a more

antiquated arrangement of figures. Furthermore,

inconsistencies in the quality of the execution

complicate not only the identification of the artist

but also the dating of the drawing. But at the same

time, there are formal and thematic aspects that

render the sheet remarkable.

The theme of Christ’s triumphal entry into

Jerusalem references the pictorial tradition of

Roman triumphal processions, whose iconography

had scarcely changed since the early Christian era.5

Around 1500, the theme was found primarily within

serial representations of the life of Christ. The entry

served as a prelude to the Passion and appeared on

fasting cloths, in biblia pauperum, and, above all,

in print series.6 Mirroring the texts of the Gospels,7

such depictions feature Christ riding toward the

city gates on a donkey, followed by his disciples

and greeted by urban crowds. The scene is often

accompanied by the motifs of a man spreading out

his cloak and onlookers waving palm branches. The

entry into Jerusalem was frequently combined with

the episode of Christ’s entry into Jericho,8 attested

by the small figure of Zacchaeus seated in the tree

that was sometimes incorporated into the scene.

The artist who created the Albertina sheet

followed such typical presentations. The crowd’s

movement from left to right, Christ’s cruciform

halo, and especially the donkey’s stance with a

raised left front hoof suggest familiarity with

German engravings used as models.9 The entry was

customarily depicted in a vertical format so that the

protagonists inhabit a very narrow space in front

of the city gate. While the gate can be seen on the

right in the Albertina composition, the draftsman

chose a horizontal format, thus expanding both the

pictorial and narrative space as well as the narrative

itself. To the architecture the artist added a second

city gate, which serves as a stage for rustic figures

who observe the scene, toss branches, or cut them

from the trees. At the same time, the draftsman

employed the space to create movement, seen in

the densely packed group of disciples who press

forward from the left to form a tight curve. They

follow Christ, whose gesture of blessing also directs

the processional route toward the second gate.

Works by Rogier van der Weyden (1399/1400–1464)

or Vrancke van der Stockt (1404/24–1495), who

was also active in Brussels, comprise the possible

inspiration for the second gate, from which the

crowd pours forth.10

Together, the circular motion created in the

composition, on the one hand, and the stiff posture

of the disciples, on the other, recall a medieval automaton

clock in which the figures make a complete

rotation every hour. Moreover, the parade of figures

suggests the stagelike performance of a Palm

Sunday procession. The processional motif may

have developed from the pictorial models of Jan van

Eyck (1390/99–1441),11 but it also evokes pageants

from the artist’s own life experience. In festive

parades on religious or political occasions, the city

walls and gates were adorned with locally produced

tapestries such as that seen hanging on the wall in

the drawing.

The composition’s unevenness may stem from the

combination of several models or the presence of

an independent partial copy. Its possible derivation

from several sources, along with the use of the

durable support of parchment, suggests that it

functioned as a model and thematic resource for

workshop use.12

 

1. Attributed to Albrecht Bouts by Benesch O. 1928, 5, no. 27;

Schöne 1938, 193, no. 90; disattributed by Henderiks 2011,

416, no. 51.

2. See Keil et al. 1971, 19, no. 39.

3. For the confusing and problematic attribution to Aert Ortkens

(Pseudo–Aert Ortkens) and Pseudo-Ortkens, see Husband 1995,

134–37.

4. Wayment 1998, 84.

5. In this regard, see also Schoch et al. 2002, 294, no. 191.

6. Von Wirth and Witzleben 1957.

7. Matthew 21:1–11; Mark 11:1–10; Luke 19:29–39; John 12:12–19.

8. Luke 19:1–10.

9. See, for example, engravings by the monogrammist WH, the

monogrammist AG, Hans Leonhard Schäufelein (1480–1538/40),

and Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528). For the dissemination of

Dürer’s printed works in the Netherlands, see the essays by

Van Grieken, Konowitz, Preising, Schauerte, Silver, and

Vogelaar in Van den Brink 2021.

10. For example, Vrancke van der Stockt, Procession with the

Sacred Host, 1440, pen and brown ink, over black chalk, on

two sheets of paper, 29.2 x 54.1 cm, British Museum, London,

1895,0915.1001.

11. The Van Eyck original is lost. A copy after Van Eyck, c. 1505–

15, oil on oak, 97.5 x 129.5 cm, is preserved at the Szépmu˝vészeti

Múzeum, Budapest, 2531. In this regard, see also Keil et al. 1971,

19, no. 39.

12. Parchment evidently was frequently used for patterns and

workshop models. For example, Dürer employed parchment for

his animal and plant studies; see also Jenni 1978.

 

Emily J. Peters, Laura M. Ritter (Hg.), AK Tales of the City. Drawing in the Netherlands from Bosch to Bruegel, Cleveland Museum of Art 9.10.2022 - 8.1.2023, New Haven 2022, Kat. Nr. 20