Lot 1013 D α

The composition derives from a model created by Bernard van Orley around 1516 in which the Virgin and Child are represented full length on the grass sitting next to a fountain in an enclosed garden before a Renaissance city view (Milan, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, inv. no 46, panel, 62 x 50 cm). Several versions exist with different settings, such as the one shown here.
The figures are depicted in a close-up view in front of a wooded landscape near a medieval castle. Mary is represented half-length nursing the Infant Jesus. She inclines Her head to the right and holds Christ in Her left arm, whilst He also looks up towards the right. A long transparent veil covers the Virgin's long curly hair and part of Her forehead. She wears an underdress with golden brocade at the cuffs under a red gown. The Child's body is partly covered by a large white cloth.
A similar version with regards to the presentation of the figures once belonged to the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (M. J. Friedländer, op. cit., no. 126c). Such compositions were produced throughout Flanders in the first half of the 16th century and were highly well received. Whilst Bernard van Orley retained close ties with his home town of Brussels all his life, the archives reveal that his father Valentin was active in Antwerp in 1512, as testified by his inscription in the local Guild of St. Luke. At the same time at least two of Bernard's brothers, Evrard and Gommaire, likewise painters, settled in Scheldt, which had become the major trading centre in the region. With models circulating from one workshop to another during the fairs and between cities, there is no indication that the author of this panel, obviously under Bernard van Orley's influence, would have been active in Brussels rather than in Antwerp, where a wider range of clients within the rich merchant class and many devout citizens were to be found.