Master of the Holy Blood was active in Brussels around 1520 Large altar triptych with Lamentation of Christ. Middle panel: The Lamentation, Left wing: Donor with the Instruments of the Passion, Right wing: Female donor represented as Maria Magdalene. Oil on wood. 109 x 70,5cm, bzw 109 x 29,5cm. Framed. Provenance: Private collection. Sotheby's 05.07.1995. Private collection, Cologne Cf. literature: K. Arndt: De anonieme meesters en hun problemen, in Exh. Cat. Bruges 1969, 17-24 M.J. Friedländer: Die altniederländische Malerei. Joos van Cleve, Jan Provost, Loachim Patenier, Berlin 1931. G. Hulin de Loo: Exposition de Tableax flamands des XIV, XV, et XVI siecles. Cataloque Critique precede d'une introductionsur l'identite de certains maitres anonymes, Gand 1902. The name of the Master of the Holy Blood was introduced by Georges Hulin de Loo. Friedländer attributes about 30 works to this artist. The name denotes a not further traceable artist in Bruges around 1520 who worked in the immediate circle of Ambrosius Benson, Adrian Isenbrant and Albert Cornelis and whose name goes back to the magnum opus "The Lamentation of Christ" in the Basilica of the Holy Blood. Legend has it that the Basilica was built in the 12th century - restored around 1500 - to store a relic of Christ's blood. The altar triptych presented here shows distinguishable parallels but also considerably stronger parts when compared to the Bruges panel. Clearly identifiable similarities can be noticed in the compositional elements: the figures arranged in paralell echelons around the saviour stretched out to the left, the same heighth of the horizon line and the greenish blue landscape unfolding from the horizon to the middle ground as well as its phantastic archicture, right up to the Gothic framework. Different by comparison, more plastically as well as finer is the high-quality rendering of the flesh tints. A change of that kind as to pictorial conception coming down to a three dimensional realisation of space can be explained by a direct influence of Quentin Massys' workshop. It's already in Arndt where a relation between the Master of the Holy Blood and this important Antwerp workshop is stated. A relation that is confirmed by this panel painting's extraordinary, high-quality rendering.