Workshop of Dirk Bouts, 'The Virgin and Child', about 1465
About the work
Overview
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 religious activity in the fifteenth century: as a human mother she was seen as more approachable than Christ or God the Father. Small devotional panels like this were used for private prayer and meditation.
This painting’s condition makes it difficult to judge accurately its relationship to Dirk Bouts. The drawing is good and the draperies and patterned textile are very similar to those in pictures attributed to Bouts himself. It was probably made in his workshop.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- The Virgin and Child
- Artist
- Workshop of Dirk Bouts
- Artist dates
- 1400? - 1475
- Date made
- about 1465
- Medium and support
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 20.2 × 14.3 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Presented by Queen Victoria at the Prince Consort's wish, 1863
- Inventory number
- NG708
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
Provenance
Inscriptions on the reverse indicate that the painting was once in an Italian collection. It later belonged to Josef, Count von Rechberg (1769–1833), and was purchased with the rest of his collection in 1815 by Ludwig Kraft Ernst of Oettingen-Wallerstein (1791–1870). Among the Oettingen-Wallerstein paintings sent to England in 1847, it became in 1851 the property of Prince Albert (1819–61) and was presented in 1863 by Queen Victoria, at the Prince Consort’s wish.
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
-
2019Making a Masterpiece: Bouts and Beyond, 1450-2020York Art Gallery11 October 2019 - 26 January 2020
Bibliography
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1826L.K.E. von Oettingen-Wallerstein, Catalogue de la Gallerie de Wallerstein, Alte Pinakothek 1826
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1827L.K.E. von Oettingen-Wallerstein, Katalog der Gallerie zu Wallerstein, n.p. 1827
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1848Descriptive Catalogue of a Collection of Ancient Greek, Italian, German, Flemish and Dutch Pictures (Belonging to Prince Ludwig Kraft Ernst Von Oettingen-Wallerstein) Now at Kensington Palace, London 1848
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1854G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being and Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated Mss. […], vol. 2, trans. E. Eastlake, London 1854
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1857G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being and Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated Mss. […], translated from German by Elizabeth Eastlake, 3 vols, London 1857, vol. 3
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1857G. Scharf, Catalogue of the Art Treasures of the United Kingdom: Collected at Manchester in 1857, London 1857
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1864National Gallery, Descriptive and Historical Catalogue of the Pictures in the National Gallery: Foreign Schools, London 1864
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1887National Gallery, The Abridged Catalogue of the Pictures in the National Gallery, with Short Biographical Notices of the Painters: Foreign Schools, London 1887
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1904M.H. Witt, The German and Flemish Masters in the National Gallery, London 1904
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1907F.W. Lippmann, 'Letters to the Editor: German and Flemish Pictures in the National Gallery', The Burlington Magazine, XII/56, 1907
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1929National Gallery, National Gallery, Trafalgar Square: Catalogue, 86th edn, London 1929
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1932L. Baldass, 'Die Entwicklung des Dirk Bouts', Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien, VI, 1932, pp. 77-114
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1945Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: Early Netherlandish School, London 1945
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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
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1955Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: Early Netherlandish School, 2nd edn (revised), London 1955
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1967M.J. Friedländer, Early Netherlandish Painting, eds N. Veronée-Verhaegen and H. Pauwels, trans. H. Norden, 14 vols, Leiden 1967
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1970L.K.E. von Oettingen-Wallerstein, Grundbuch der Hochfürstlich Oettingen-Wallersteinischen altdeutscher Gemaehlde: Erster Teil, gefertiget in den Jahren 1817 u. 1818, Germany 197-?
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1987Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Early Netherlandish School, 3rd edn, London 1987
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1998Campbell, Lorne, National Gallery Catalogues: The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Paintings, London 1998
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1999G. Perry and C. Cunningham (eds), Academies, Museums and Canons of Art, London 1999
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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.
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