MASTER of the Joseph Sequence
(active around 1500 in Brussels)

Biography

South Netherlandish painter. He was named in 1923 after a series of tondi illustrating the Legend of St Joseph (Berlin, Bodemuseum; Munich, Alte Pinakothek; New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art). Subsequently eight panels with scenes from the Life of Christ and the Life of the Virgin (c. 1493-1508; Brussels, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts) were also attributed to the same painter. These came from the abbey of Afflighem and gave the artist his alternative name (Master of Afflighem Abbey). The inscription TE BRUESELE on the Circumcision, the buildings and the style of painting suggest that the artist worked in Brussels c. 1500. The portraits of Philip the Fair and Joanna the Mad on the wings of the Last Judgement triptych from Zierickzee (c. 1496-1506; Brussels, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts) and the wings of the Legend of St Barbara (Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery) are also attributed to this artist.