_The Meister von Liesborn_ (German: about 1465).
The principal work of this master, whose name has not come
down to us, was a high altar-piece for a convent church of the
Benedictines at Liesborn, near Münster in Westphalia. This
work was cut in pieces and sold in 1807, when the convent was
suspended, and Napoleon established the modern kingdom of
Westphalia. Some of the pieces were afterwards lost, some were
obtained by different collectors, while others, which were
acquired by Herr Krüger of Minden, were purchased in 1854 by
the British Government. The sweet but feeble faces, with the
gold background, recall the earliest Lower Rhine School, of
which the Westphalian was an offshoot.
In 259--a Head of Christ on the Cross--we have a fragment of the centre
compartment of the altar-piece.
In 260 and 261 we have the saints who stood by the side of the Cross
(hence their melancholy expression). In 260 the saints are St. John,
St. Benedict, and St. Scholastica (the first Benedictine nun and the
sister of St. Benedict himself). In 261 the saints are Sts. Cosmas and
Damian (see under 594), and the Virgin.
In 254 and 255 we have other saints: in 254, St. Ambrose (see under
50), St. Exuperius (a Bishop of Toulouse), and St. Jerome (saying, as
it were, "Down, down" to his lion); in 255, St. Gregory, St. Hilary,
and St. Augustine.
On either side of the central groups in the altar-piece were
represented various sacred subjects. No. 256, represents the
Annunciation; No. 257, the Purification of the Virgin and the
Presentation of Christ in the Temple; No. 258, The Adoration of the
Magi.