The Virgin and Child
Lower Rhine Region, around 1530
Glass panel painted on reverse in eglomisé technique with lead black, opaque and transparent pigments against gold and tin leaf. Carved and painted oakwood frame, H 34.8, W 21.6 cm.
The figural composition in this unusual reverse glass painting may be based on Albrecht Dürer's "Madonna and Child with the Monkey", from around 1498. However, the figures have here been placed within a Renaissance architectural niche instead of the water landscape of Dürer's print.
A material analysis has been carried out on this work in the course of restoration. The analysis was able to discern all of the pigments used, which include azurite, copper green, red and yellow ochre and lead white alongside lead black. The frame is most likely original, with the coat-of-arms indicating that this was a private commission designed for a domestic altar.
Provenance
Art market, Paris.
Literature
Illus. in Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Kunst- und naturwissenschaftliche Untersuchungen an Hinterglasobjekten aus Burgund, Flandern und vom Niederrhein (1330 bis 1550), DFG-Projekt 2008, cat. no. 57.
Illus. in Bretz, Hinterglasmalerei ...die Farben leuchten so klar und rein. Maltechnik – Geschichte – Restaurierung, Munich 2013, illus. 18.