Adriaen van Overbeke

He operated a large workshop with an important output of altarpieces, which were mainly exported to Northern France, the Rhineland and Westphalia.

[1] His known works were predominantly polychromed wooden altarpieces with painted shutters, which were created through a collaboration between painters and sculptors.

[2] The artist has only recently been identified with the anonymous master who was given the notname 'Master of the Crucifixion of Antwerp' by Max Jakob Friedländer.

Some art historians have speculated that he may be the Ariaen who is mentioned as a pupil of Quentin Matsys in the records of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1495.

In 1513 he is documented working on a commission for a retable for the Propsteikirche St. Mariä Geburt ('Provost Church of the Birth of Saint Mary') in Kempen (North Rhine-Westphalia).

[6] Van Overbeke acted as a witness to an agreement made in 1521 between the Franciscan monks of Dortmund and master carver Gieliszoon.

[2] It is believed that van Overbeke had created the altarpiece together with the sculptor Jan Wraghe pursuant to another contract with the Franciscans of Dortmund.

[1] Adriaen van Overbeke is known for the production and supply of carved and polychromed wooden altarpieces with painted shutter wings.

In Antwerp artistic practice this type of altarpiece was created collaboratively by painters and carvers often working within one workshop.

The workshop style also included compliance with certain conventions regarding the palette which remained very similar over a period of about 15 years.

The term Antwerp Mannerism was coined by Friedländer in the early 20th century to refer to a transitory phase in Netherlandish art from the late Gothic to works inspired by the Italian Renaissance.

The terms "Manier" and "Manierist" were used by Friedländer to refer to the original even unusual motifs in the body of work categorized under this style.

[11] The paintings appear to combine Early Netherlandish and Northern Renaissance styles, and incorporate both Flemish and Italian traditions into the same compositions.

[12] Adriaen van Overbeke himself was only recently identified with the anonymous master who was given the notname 'Master of the Crucifixion of Antwerp' by Friedländer.