(active in Antwerp circa 1530/35–1550)
Susanna and the Elders,
oil on panel, 97 x 126 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection, Marseille;
art market;
where acquired by the present owner

The so-called Master of the Prodigal son, sometimes also named Monogrammist LK (Leonard Kroes), Pseudo-Lombard or Master of Tobias, is an early Netherlandish painter who was primarily active in Antwerp, most likely from the 1530s until at least the 1550s. This epithet derives from his most famous work, the Parable of the Prodigal Son, in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (inv. no. GG 986). His corpus is indeed very limited and today little is known about his identity or method of work (it has been suggested that he maintained a workshop but this has been disputed). Nonetheless, the Master of the Prodigal Son is counted among the great masters of Flemish 16th century mannerism. Besides the painting of the parable that provided his name, the painter is well known for depictions of various biblical subjects such as Susannah and the Elders, his signature work.

The present painting was evidently appreciated in the artist’s milieu as it has been reproduced at least once. There is another similar version that has been attributed to the circle of the Master of the Prodigal Son (see RKD database, no. 0000279087). This second version, clearly of minor quality, may hence well be interpreted as a kind of workshop copy after an original produced or at least begun by the Master of the Prodigal Son himself. This fact permits us to understand the present painting as the prototype and to assume that the Master ran a workshop, which occasionally executed further versions of the most popular paintings by the artist.