Baud, Lausanne,
His sale, Lausanne, Galerie Sangiorgi, 31 August - 16 September 1896, lot 1318 (as school of Van Heck);  
Purchased by the father of the present owner in the 1970s.

C.R. Post, A History of Spanish Painting, Cambridge, MA 1947, vol. IX, part II, pp. 820-22, reproduced (as by Bartolomé Bermejo).

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This panel has been cradled on the reverse. The surface is flat and the paint layer is stable. Prior to the cradle presumably some of the joins in the panel were aggravated. One join appears to be running vertically through the right side of the picture and the other through the left side. The condition is good in some areas and uneven in others. The angels on the left side are slightly worn and have been retouched to a degree. The kneeling female figure on the right side is also abraded and shows some retouches in her face. Above this figure particularly there is a succession of retouches in the architecture but in the upper center the condition is considerably better and in the upper right it deteriorates again. The faces of the figures on the right and of Joseph are worn. The Madonna and the Child are in better condition. The painting appears to be clean and as far as this retouching goes it is reasonably affective. However, the retouching could be reexamined to bring more quality to the image if desired.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This impressive panel once functioned as an altarpiece for private devotion.  Although attributed to Bartolomé Bermejo in C.R. Post's History of Spanish Painting (see Literature),  and also given to him by Gudiol, current scholarship is divided over the work's authorship.¹  The Flemish influence, evident in the balanced composition, palette, and construction of the building and flooring are all characteristic of Valencian paintings of the period, but would be atypical for Bermejo, who was active in Aragon.  Although a consensus has yet to be reached on its authorship, the beauty and elegance of the figures and their convincing relation to one another and their surroundings in space, belie the hand of a well-trained, cosmopolitan artist with strong ties to both Spanish and Flemish artistic traditions.

1.  In a certificate dated, 24 May 1979, available uℱpon request from the department✅.