Lot 1020 Dα

This well-known composition derives from a model created by Jan Gossaert around 1520 (The Hague, Mauritshuis, inv. no. 830, panel 25.3 x 29.6 cm). The presentation of the Child playing peekaboo with his mother's veil, a novelty in Flemish painting, obtained a large audience in Antwerp in the mid-16th century. Originally designed before a dark background, the two figures appear in a room in front of a wall partially covered with a rich purple curtain and opening out into the surrounding countryside. Both figures look to the viewer, directly engaging him in contemplation of the Holy Family but also watching in close up the secular and simple scene of a mother with her child. This dual aspect of the topic must have been part of its huge success after Gossaert's death.
Many variants exist in size, colors and ornamentation. Karel van Mander, famous writer of the Schilderboek published in 1604, reveals that Paul van Aelst, son of Pieter Coeckoe, was a skilled copyist of Gossaert. While in The Hague version the master uses the royal blue color for the Virgin's mantle, it should be noted that in most if not in all copies the Virgin wears a red coat. Therefore and given other substantial differences that distinguish the copies from the Mauritshuis painting it is not excluded that they all derive from another, now lost autograph model by Gossaert.