The Morrison Triptych

The Master of the Morrison Triptych is the name given to an unknown Early Netherlandish painter active in Antwerp around 1500-1510. He is named for the Morrison Triptych, now in Toledo, Ohio, which is described below.

The same master is attributed an Adoration of the Magi with donor portrait, in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, c. 1504, probably the side-wing of another triptych. It is dateable by the stage of progress reached in the construction of the new tower of Antwerp Cathedral in the background, a typical exhibition of civic pride. A triptych in the National Gallery, London (NG 1085) has been suggested as another work by the artist. In Lisbon's Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga there is yet another triptych believed to have been painted by this master with the Virgin Christa and Angels, and with St John the Baptist and St john the Evangelist in the side panels. Museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht houses a small panel painting with an Adoration of the Shepherds (ABM s355) that is attributed to the master.

The Morrison Triptych is an altarpiece in triptych or three-paneled form, by the master and probably painted around 1500 A.D. The work is named after an earlier owner, the British collector Alfred Morrison, and is now in the Toledo Museum of Art in Toledo, Ohio. The painting is not to be confused with a modern work of the same name celebrating Jim Morrison of The Doors.

The work loosely repeats the composition of an earlier triptych, now in Vienna (the St John Altarpiece), by Hans Memling, with the addition of the lute-playing angel. The new composition, in turn, was copied by Joos van Cleve in another altarpiece - such borrowings being very common in Early Netherlandish art. The external panels are decorated with paintings intended to appear as sculpture depicting Adam and Eve, characters from the Old Testament. These “painted sculptures” of Adam and Eve cast shadows to their proper left and the front panel is painted to appear to reflect a candle that would be placed on the altar in front of this altarpiece. The pedestals in which the “sculptures” stand protrude toward the viewer, appearing three-dimensional and including the viewer in their realm.

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