Dirk Bouts, 'The Virgin and Child', about 1465
About the work
Overview
The Virgin and Christ Child are seen as if at an open window, with the infant perched on the sill. Mary gazes lovingly at her son and offers him her breast; images of the Virgin breastfeeding emphasised Christ’s humanity and vulnerability.
Small religious panels like this were used as an aid to private prayer in people’s homes. Images of the Virgin and Child reminded medieval viewers of the Virgin’s role as mother of God, and also of the Incarnation, by which God became fully human.
Although they are biblical figures the Virgin and Child are shown in a fifteenth-century room, as if they have entered our world. The white cloth around the Child may have continued over the original frame, which is now missing, strengthening the illusion.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- The Virgin and Child
- Artist
- Dirk Bouts
- Artist dates
- 1400? - 1475
- Date made
- about 1465
- Medium and support
- oil with some egg tempera on wood
- Dimensions
- 37.1 × 27.6 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Salting Bequest, 1910
- Inventory number
- NG2595
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Previous owners
- Frame
- 20th-century Replica Frame
Provenance
A Spanish inscription on a cradle formerly on the reverse read ‘cradled on Sunday 12 April [18]63’. The painting was therefore in Spain in 1863. Later it was in the collection of Frédéric Spitzer (1815–90), who came from Vienna but settled in Paris in 1852. In the Spitzer sale, Paris, 30 May–12 June 1893, it was no. 3308; by 1895, it was in the collection of George Salting (1836–1909) and it formed part of the Salting Bequest in 1910.
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Lorne Campbell, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Schools’, London 1998; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
-
2010Van Eyck to DürerGroeningemuseum29 October 2010 - 30 January 2011
-
2019Making a Masterpiece: Bouts and Beyond, 1450-2020York Art Gallery11 October 2019 - 26 January 2020
-
2022Reframed: The Woman in the WindowDulwich Picture Gallery4 May 2022 - 4 September 2022
Bibliography
-
1893P. Chevallier, Catalogue des objets d'art composant l'importante et précieuse collection Spitzer, Paris, 17 April 1893 - 16 June 189
-
1911National Gallery, An Abridged Catalogue of the Pictures in the National Gallery, London 1911
-
1923F. Winkler, 'Die Nordfranzösische Malerei im 15. Jahrhundert und ihr Verhältnis zur Altniederländische Malerei', in P. Clemen (ed.), Belgische Kunstdenkmäler, Munich 1923, vol. 1, pp. 247-68
-
1924M.J. Friedländer, Die altniederländische Malerei, 14 vols, Berlin 1924
-
1925C.J. Holmes, Old Masters and Modern Art: The National Gallery, the Netherlands, Germany and Spain, London 1925
-
1930T. Cox, The National Gallery: A Room to Room Guide, London 1930
-
1932L. Baldass, 'Die Entwicklung des Dirk Bouts', Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien, VI, 1932, pp. 77-114
-
1945Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: Early Netherlandish School, London 1945
-
1947H.B. Wehle and M. Salinger, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, A Catalogue of Early Flemish, Dutch and German Paintings, New York 1947
-
1953M. Davies, The National Gallery, London, Les Primitifs flamands. I, Corpus de la peinture des anciens Pay-Bas méridionaux au quinzième siècle 3, 2 vols, Antwerp 1953
-
1953E. Panofsky, Early Netherlandish Painting: Its Origins and Character, Cambridge 1953
-
1955Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: Early Netherlandish School, 2nd edn (revised), London 1955
-
1962H. Adhémar, Les primitifs flamands. I. Corpus…, 5, Le Musée National du Louvre, Paris, Brussels 1962
-
1967M.J. Friedländer, Early Netherlandish Painting, eds N. Veronée-Verhaegen and H. Pauwels, trans. H. Norden, 14 vols, Leiden 1967
-
1984S. Ringbom, Icon to Narrative, 2nd edn, Doornspijk 1984
-
1984R. Salvini, Banchieri fiorentini e pittori di Fiandra, Modena 1984
-
1985National Gallery, 'Pictures Cleaned and Restored in the Conservation Department of the National Gallery, January 1984 - December 1984', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, IX, 1985
-
1986D. Bomford, A. Roy and A. Smith, 'The Techniques of Dieric Bouts: Two Paintings Contrasted', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, X, 1986, pp. 39-57
-
1986J. Mills and R. White, 'Analyses of Paint Media', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, X, 1986, pp. 70-1
-
1987Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Early Netherlandish School, 3rd edn, London 1987
-
1991J. Dunkerton et al., Giotto to Dürer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery, New Haven 1991
-
1993N. MacGregor, A Victim of Anonymity: The Master of the Saint Bartholomew Altarpiece, London 1993
-
1993J. Sander, Niederländische Gemälde im Städel, 1400-1550, Mainz 1993
-
1994H. Belting and C. Kruse, Die Erfindung des Gemäldes: Das erste Jahrhundert der niederländischen Malerei, Munich 1994
-
1995B. Ridderbos, Om iets te weten van de oude meesters: De Vlaamse primitieven: Herontdekking, waardering en onderzoek, Nijmegen 1995
-
1996C. Stroo et al., The Flemish Primitives: Catalogue of Early Netherlandish Painting in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, 6 vols, Brussels 1996
-
1997E. Langmuir, Landscape, London 1997
-
1997U. Heinrichs-Schreiber, 'Oeil et illusion: La signification de la fenêtre dans la Vierge au Perroquet de Martin Schongauer', Bulletin de la Société Schongauer, 1997, pp. 174-200
-
1998Campbell, Lorne, National Gallery Catalogues: The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Paintings, London 1998
-
1998M. Smeyers, Dirk Bouts: Schilder van de Stilte, Louvain 1998
-
1999J. Micolaisen, 'Martin Schongauer - ein Mitarbeiter der Werkstatt Hans Memlings?: Zur Wanderschaft Schongauers und dem Einfluss der niederländischen Malerei des 15. Jahrhunderts auf sein Werk', Pantheon, LVII, 1999, pp. 33-56
-
1999
L. Devoldere et al. (eds), The Low Countries: Arts and Society in Flanders and the Netherlands, a Yearbook, Rekkem 1999
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
-
2004P. Nuttall, From Flanders to Florence: The Impact of Netherlandish Painting, 1400-1500, New Haven 2004
-
2005J. Snyder, Northern Renaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture, the Graphic Arts from 1350 to 1575, ed. L. Silver, New Jersey 2005
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
Images
More works by Dirk Bouts
(Showing 6 of 7 works)
Christ wears the rich cloak and the crown of thorns in which, according to the Gospels, he was dressed before he was crucified. But the wounds of the Passion (his torture and crucifixion) indicate that he has already died and been resurrected.Bouts brings Jesus’s torments vividly to life, showing...
Not on display
A fair-haired man stands in an interior, gazing past us. Through the window behind him we can see a landscape with a church in the distance. The date on the back wall makes this the earliest datable – and in fact the only dated painting – by Bouts, and the earliest dated portrait to include an op...
Not on display
Christ’s body, wrapped in a white shroud, is being placed in a tomb by his grief-stricken family and followers. His mother Mary, clasping his wrist, seems on the edge of collapse; John the Evangelist holds her up. Behind them are Mary’s sisters, one wiping tears from her eyes, the other holding h...
Not on display
Workshop of Dirk Bouts
This small picture once made up a diptych (a folding painting in two parts) with another in our collection, the Mater Dolorosa. It was probably intended for private devotion: Christ’s pain was meant to inspire empathy in the viewer, who was encouraged to meditate upon his suffering as a means of...
Not on display
Workshop of Dirk Bouts
This small painting of the sorrowing Virgin once went with another painting in our collection, Christ Crowned with Thorns. They originally made up a diptych, a folding painting in two parts. It was probably intended for private prayer: the Virgin’s grief was intended to inspire empathy in the vie...
Not on display
Workshop of Dirk Bouts
The Virgin and Child are shown as an affectionate mother and laughing infant. Christ holds an apple, alluding to the fruit with which Eve tempted Adam in the biblical story of the Garden of Eden, leading to the Fall of Man.Devotion to Mary was an important part of a great flowering of private rel...
Not on display
Workshop of Dirk Bouts
The Virgin, holding the infant Christ, sits on a marble throne with a luxurious material stretched across it – a cloth of honour, something often hung behind medieval royalty. Two saints stand with them, and particular symbols tell us who they are. On the Virgin’s right is Saint Peter, a key peep...
Not on display
You've viewed 6 of 7 works