Next in importance among the Antwerp masters is Jan Gossart (_c._
1470-1533?), better known as Mabuse, from the name of his native town
Maubeuge in the Hainault. In his early work he followed the tradition
of the great masters of his own country, but a journey to Italy in
1508 made him change his manner, and led him to adopt, together with
the amplitude of Italian design, a certain floridness which compares
unfavourably with the honest realism of his precursors and which led to
the rapid decadence of the Flemish school. In the magnificent portrait
of _Jean Carondelet, Perpetual Chancellor of Flanders_ (No. 1997, Plate
XX.), although it was painted as late as 1517, he is still faithful
to the great tradition of his country for honest, straightforward,
shrewdly observed, and delicately wrought portraiture. An inscription
on the top of the arched gilt frame reads:
REPRÉSENTACION DE MESSIRE JEHAN CARONDELET,
HAVLT DOYEN DE BESANÇON, EN SON EAGE DE 48Ā,
and, below, “FAIT L’AN 1517.” In a niche behind the panel are the
letters “I C” entwined with strings, and the motto “MATVRA.” The
portrait was, therefore, obviously painted just before Carondelet
accompanied Charles V. to Spain in 1517.
This portrait panel, together with _The Virgin and Child_ (No. 1998),
which bears on the frame the inscription
MEDIATRIX NOSTRA QVE EST POST DEVM
SPES SOLA TVO FILIO ME REPRESENTA,
and the signature “JOHANNES MELBODIE PINGEBAT,” formed a
diptych which was bought in 1847 from a Valenciennes architect for
the ridiculous price of £40! A later portrait of Carondelet by
Mabuse, dated 1531, appeared in 1907 at Christie’s under the name of
C. Amberger, and realised the price of £3885. Another portrait of
Carondelet, by B. van Orley, is in the Munich Gallery, where it is
officially ascribed to Quentin Matsys, who is probably the painter
of yet another portrait of the Chancellor which was recently in the
Duchâtel collection in Paris. The _Portrait of a Benedictine_ (No.
1999) bears the date 1526 and the signature