Virgin and Child

Virgin and Child

Virgin and Child

Artist:
Workshop of Gerard David (Netherlandish, Oudewater ca. 1455–1523 Bruges)
Date:
1460–1523
Culture:
Netherlandish
Medium:
Oil on oak panel
Dimensions:Overall:
6 1/8 x 4 1/2 in. (15.6 x 11.4 cm);
Painted Surface:
5 3/4 x 4 1/8 in. (14.6 x 10.5 cm)
Classification:
Paintings
Credit Line:
Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
Accession Number:
1975.1.118

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 953
In the last half of the fifteenth and well into the sixteenth century in the Netherlands, individual pictures of the Virgin and Child were much in demand. Often they were hung on the walls of bedchambers or placed on sideboards to provide inspiration for private moments of prayer. The specific pose in the Virgin and Child, in which the Child stands on the Virgin's lap as the two figures share an embrace, may have been developed as a larger-format composition by Rogier van der Weyden. The wide dissemination of this motif suggests that the artist depended on a standard workshop pattern. It is thought that this tender Virgin and Child is the product of a workshop assistant of Gerard David.

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings
Inscription: On the reverse, a Thomas Agnew and Sons paper label with no. 27562 printed on it and p525 added in pen.

Provenance
Sale, Sotheby's, London, 3 November 1965, lot 111 (as Flemish school, sixteenth century); [Thomas Agnew and Sons, London] (bought from Sotheby's). Acquired by Robert Lehman from Agnew in 1966.

Copyright Image
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