Object data
oil on panel
support: height 36.8 cm × width 28.5 cm
depth 6.5 cm
anonymous
The Virgin and Child
Southern Netherlands, c. 1500
Inscriptions
- inscription, Along the edge of the Virgin’s hood to the left of her face: AVE REGINA CELORUM AVE (Hail, queen of the heavens // Hail; from the Marian antiphon “Ave regina caelorum”)
- inscription, Around the cuffs of the Virgin’s sleeves, outer left cuff: >[D?]EI MEMENTO MEI AVE REGIN[A] // AV (God, remember me Hail, queen. Hail; from a medieval version of the Hail Mary)
- inscription, Around the cuffs of the Virgin’s sleeves, outer right cuff: O MATER DEI MEM[ENTO] // [S?]TOA DVLCERE AVE MATER DOMINI (O mother of God remember Hail mother of [our] Lord [Jesus Christ]; from a medieval version of the Hail Mary, then two words which cannot be placed, followed by a general Marian salutation)
Technical notes
The support is a single vertically grained oak plank which has been planed down to a thickness of approx. 0.4 cm and cradled. A small strip may have been cut off at the bottom. Dendrochronology has shown that the youngest heartwood ring was formed in 1479. The panel could have been ready for use by 1490, but a date in or after 1504 is more likely. The white ground was probably applied when the panel was in the original frame, as there are unpainted edges of approx. 0.8 cm at the top and bottom; on the left and right sides these have probably been filled and overpainted. Infrared reflectography shows an underdrawing in a dry medium, probably black chalk, for the figures of the Virgin and Child. The underdrawing is sketchy and tentative in the Child’s body, notably in the position of the feet (fig. b). The background on either side of the gold brocade cloth appears to have been completely overpainted in grey. The flesh colours and the Virgin’s blue cloth were painted rather thickly. Mordant gilding was used for the inscription on the blue garment.
Scientific examination and reports
- infrared reflectography: M. Wolters / M. Leeflang [2], RKD/RMA, no. RKDG406, 11 May 2006
- condition report: I. Verslype, RMA, 11 May 2006
- dendrochronology: P. Klein, RMA, 31 August 2007
Condition
Fair. There are several horizontal cracks, probably caused by the cradle. The background, which is partly covered by the frame, has been painted over in grey.
Provenance
…; collection Cornelis Hoogendijk (1866-1911), The Hague, before 1902;1 from whom on loan to the museum (inv. no. SK-C-825), 1907-11; donated to the museum from Hoogendijk’s estate, 1912; on loan to the Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, since 2002
Object number: SK-A-2552
Credit line: Gift of the heirs of C. Hoogendijk, The Hague
Copyright: Public domain
The artist
Anonymous, Bruges
Entry
The composition of this Virgin with the reclining Child at her bare breast, the ‘Madonna lactans’ type, is probably based on a model by Rogier van der Weyden. The prototype is his ‘Virgin and Child’ in Tournai.2 In that painting the Virgin is holding her breast with her hand and the Child is more in a seated position. There are 30 versions of this composition, of which the one in Brussels (fig. a) seems to be one of the earliest.3 In some of them the Child is suckling, but that is not the case here. In this panel, in which the Virgin and Child are set against a red and gold brocade cloth that is partly overpainted with grey, the soft facial features of the Virgin differ from those of the type derived from Rogier as seen in most of the other versions. The Child also departs from the model, particularly as regards the position of its feet. It is clear from the sketchy underdrawing that the artist sought a different position for them, with the foot nearest the viewer covering the other one (fig. b). Further comparison of the motifs in the gold brocade might provide clues as to the workshop where the painting was made. De Vos assumes that it was executed in Bruges around 1500.4 The Virgin’s softer features do indeed point to Bruges, and the dendrochronology confirms the date of c. 1500.
JPFK
Literature
Winkler 1913, p. 72 (as copy after Rogier van der Weyden, c. 1500); Friedländer II, 1924, pp. 131, no. 108n (as copy after Rogier van der Weyden, c. 1500); ENP II, 1967, pp. 83-84, no. 108n; De Vos 1971, pp. 139-40, no. 8 (as Bruges, c. 1500); Van Wegen 2005, pp. 26-27
Collection catalogues
1912, p. 340, no. 340b (as Flemish, after Rogier van der Weyden); 1934, p. 25, no. 340b; 1976, p. 688, no. A 2552 (as southern Netherlands)
Citation
J.P. Filedt Kok, 2010, 'anonymous, The Virgin and Child, Southern Netherlands, c. 1500', in J.P. Filedt Kok (ed.), Early Netherlandish Paintings, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.6629
(accessed 26 November 2024 02:07:45).