workshop of Robert Campin, possibly Jacques Daret, 'The Virgin and Child in an Interior', before 1432

The Virgin and Child in an Interior

workshop of Robert Campin, possibly Jacques Daret

Not on display

About the work

Overview

This tiny painting – almost postcard sized – shows an endearing fireside scene: Christ’s bath time. The Virgin sits on a cushion on the floor, surrounded by domestic paraphernalia. There is a brass bowl in front of the fire, and a basket of white cloths – presumably nappies or swaddling bands – on the floor.

Although Mary and Jesus are biblical figures the artist has placed them in a wealthy fifteenth-century Netherlandish home. Rays around their heads remind us that this is no ordinary mother, but the Mother of God. The naked Child twists on her lap, to kiss his mother’s lips and stroke her chin with his left hand; with the other hand, he touches his genitals. His unusual gesture perhaps refers to the idea that the Virgin, as a symbol of the Church, was understood in the Middle Ages as the bride of Christ.

In-depth

This tiny painting – almost postcard sized – shows an endearing fireside scene: Christ’s bath time. The Virgin Mary sits on a cushion on the floor, surrounded by domestic paraphernalia, clasping her son tightly in both hands and pressing her face to his.

Although they are biblical figures, the artist has placed Mary and Christ in a fifteenth-century Netherlandish home. Behind Mary is a wooden bench covered with the same cloth of gold as her cushion. This is a wealthy, even palatial, household: the walls are partly panelled, the windows partly glazed and shuttered; there is a large stone fireplace with tongs and fire dog; the bench and the Virgin’s cushion are of matching cloth of gold. The artist has shown off his skill by including a variety of light sources and consequent shadows. Though it is sunny outside, light streams through the half-open shutters, casting double shadows on the walls. A fire burns brightly in the grate and a candle has been lit in a sconce above the fireplace. Small puffs of smoke and floating embers rise from the smouldering logs and the flickering flames light the sides of the hearth.

A brass bowl in front of the fire and a basket of white cloths – presumably nappies or swaddling bands – sit on the floor. Mary wears a rich blue dress which falls into intricate, angular folds. Her sleeves are trimmed with grey fur, and her red sandal peeps out from under its edge. Her long uncovered hair was a symbol both of her virginity and of her royal status. Golden rays around the Virgin and Child’s heads remind us that this is no ordinary mother, but the Mother of God. The naked Christ Child twists on her lap, to kiss his mother’s lips and stroke her chin with his left hand. The Virgin and Child embracing was a common motif in Italian and Byzantine art, as in The Virgin and Child with Two Angels, but here he also touches his genitals – though someone has damaged the painting so it’s hard to see exactly what he is doing. In fifteenth-century Netherlandish painting the Child often displays his genitals, but here his gesture is unusual. It perhaps refers to his Circumcision, or more probably to the idea that the Virgin, as a symbol of the Church, was understood in the Middle Ages as the bride of Christ.

The composition is thought to have been derived from a lost painting by Campin. Certain stylistic features are similar to works by Jaques Daret, one of Campin’s apprentices, who became a master of the Tournai painters' guild in 1432.

The framed panel was made by gouging out of the surface of the plank, leaving a raised lip for the frame. The wood, its vertical grain now clearly visible, is Baltic oak, cut from the same tree as Portrait of a Franciscan (?), also by Campin’s workshop – the two panels were clearly made by the same carpenter. They do not seem to have been designed to be seen together, however: there are no marks of hinges on the sides and they seem to be by different artists, although probably active in the same workshop. The back was originally marbled in red, black and white and the frame was possibly marbled too. In the Middle Ages paintings were not always hung on walls, and a small panel like this could kept in a box or a bag, and carried from place to place to use for private devotion.

Key facts

Details

Full title: The Virgin and Child in an Interior
Artist: workshop of Robert Campin, possibly Jacques Daret
Artist dates: 1378/9 - 1444; born 1401-1403, died about 1468
Date made: before 1432
Medium and support: oil on wood
Dimensions: 18.7 × 11.6 cm
Acquisition credit: Bought, 1987
Inventory number: NG6514
Location: Not on display
Collection: Main Collection
Frame: 15th-century Netherlandish Frame (original frame)

Provenance

The painting was owned by Melanie von Risenfels (1898–1984), who married in 1934 the Archduke Franz Salvator (1866–1939), a descendant of the Habsburg Grand Dukes of Tuscany. She resided at Schloss Seisenegg (Amstetten, Niederösterreich). It was purchased in 1987 from Edward Speelman Limited, London.

Additional information

This painting is included in a list of works with incomplete provenance from 1933–1945; for more information see Whereabouts of paintings 1933–1945.

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.

Bibliography

1988

National Gallery, The National Gallery Report: January 1985 - December 1987, London 1988
1988

A. Smith and M. Wyld, 'Robert Campin's "Virgin and Child in an Interior"', The Burlington Magazine, CXXX, 1988, pp. 570-1
1989

National Gallery, 'Pictures Cleaned and Restored in the Conservation Department of the National Gallery, 1988', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XIII, 1989
1991

J. Dunkerton et al., Giotto to Dürer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery, New Haven 1991
1991

K. Schlüter, Der Modellvorstellungen in der altniederländische Malerei, MA Thesis, Universität zu Bonn 1991
1993

J. Sander, Niederländische Gemälde im Städel, 1400-1550, Mainz 1993
1993

National Gallery, Robert Campin (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 20 January - 28 March 1993), London 1993
1994

H. Belting and C. Kruse, Die Erfindung des Gemäldes: Das erste Jahrhundert der niederländischen Malerei, Munich 1994
1994

Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Münster, Meister von Iserlohn: Muttergottes im Gemach, Münster 1994
1994

E. Langmuir, The National Gallery Companion Guide, London 1994
1995

S. Nash, 'A Fifteenth-Century French Manuscript and an Unknown Painting by Robert Campin', The Burlington Magazine, CXXXVII/1108, 1995, pp. 428-37
1995

E.H. Gombrich, Shadows: The Depiction of Cast Shadows in Western Art (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 26 April - 18 June 1995), London 1995
1995

S. Urbach, 'On the Iconography of Campin's Virgin and Child in an Interior: The Child Jesus Comforting his Mother after the Circumcision', in M. Smeyers and B. Cardons (eds), Flanders in a European Perspective, Manuscript Illumination around 1400 in Flanders and Abroad, Proceedings of the International Collquium, Leuven, 7-10 September 1993, Louvain 1995, pp. 557-68
1996

L. Steinberg, The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and Modern Oblivion, 2nd edn, Chicago 1996
1996

M. Michael, '"The Virgin and Child before a Firescreen" at the National Gallery: The Origins of the Madonna of Humility as the Amicta Sole', Apollo, CXLIII/411, 1996, pp. 8-14
1996

C. Reynolds, 'Reality and Image: Interpreting Three Paintings of the "Virgin and Child in an Interior" associated with Campin', in S. Foister and S. Nash (eds), Robert Campin: New Directions in Scholarship, Turnhout 1996, pp. 183-95
1997

M. Campbell, Decorative Ironwork, London 1997
1997

S. Kemperdick, Der Meister von Flémalle: Die Werkstatt Robert Campins und Rogier van der Weyden, Turnhout 1997
1997

N. Penny, Frames, London 1997
1997

D. Martens, 'Entre l'Italie et les Flandres: La "Virgo inter virgines" de Hans Holbein l'Ancien et ses sources', Revue de l'art, CXVII, 1997, pp. 36-47
1998

Campbell, Lorne, National Gallery Catalogues: The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Paintings, London 1998
1998

F. Nucciarelli, Studi sul Pinturicchio: Dalle prime prove alla Cappella Sistina, Era Nuova 1998
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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workshop of Robert Campin, possibly Jacques Daret, 'The Virgin and Child in an Interior', before 1432

About the work

Overview

In-depth

Key facts

Details

Provenance

Additional information

Questions: 1933–1945

Source

Bibliography

About this record

Images

Related works