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artist or maker

van Orley, Bernaert (b.c 1492, d.c 1541)

previously attributed to Jan Gossaert (Belgian or Flemish, b.1472, d.1532)

Date

c 1519

dated stylistically

Place of production

Flanders, Belgium

Medium

oil on panel

Type of object

paintings

Accession number

2975

Oil on panel of Virgin and Child enthroned; elaborate building in an Italian Renaissance style behind; landscape with trees and sky behind that.

The Virgin sits on a red cushion on a stone platform before the building. She wears a dark blue robe and a purplish veil on her blond loose wavy hair. Rays of light forming a halo emanate from her head. She holds the Christ Child, a white cloth around his loins only, in her arms in a seated position. He raises his arms to hold onto her veil. She looks down at him, there faces next to each other.

Three niches below the platform on which the Virgin and Child sit contain roses in a decorated ceramic vase in the centre flanked by bronze panels with scenes from the story of Jason and the Golden Fleece. On the left, Jason putting on his sandal; and on the right, Jason giving thanks for the successful quest for the fleece, the fleece visible to his left. The niches are separated by acanthus leaf volute brackets and flanked by two seated naked bronze putti. Two large marble columns with bases appear to the left and right of the platform, framing the whole scene. The column on the right has a sculpted panel of a putti holding a spear in the base.

The building in the background consists of a central niche with a scallop-shell vault, with wavy decoration, supported by an elaborate entablature and ionic pilasters interspersed with grottesque panels. The outer square pillars have panels with putti and other grottesques, Corinthian capitals with putti mascarons and owls. Above the niche are spandrals and an entablature with three aegricanes from which hangs an oak garland and an elaborate gold pendant. The entablature is surmounted by a triangular pediment, cropped at the upper edge, with, in the centre, a kneeling winged putto flanked by scrolling acanthus leaves. Behind the niche, two open aisles flank the building. The side of the aisles consist of a low wall surmounted by corner square pillars with decorative panels on the shafts and angel heads on the capitals, and three round marble columns with Corinthian capitals. These support an entablature and a triangular roof surmounted by a large gold S-scroll. Scrolls appear in the roof pediments. Further sculpted decoration appears on the low walls of the aisles.

Commentary

Mary tenderly holds her infant son as he reaches up to play with her veil in this small panel, a remnant of Ferdinand de Rothschild's 'Renaissance Museum' displayed in the Smoking Room at Waddesdon Manor. Van Orley's trademark realism is combined with a bravura display of classical symbolism and architectural painting.

Bernaert van Orley was made official court painter of the Regent of the Netherlands in 1518. The Waddesdon panel was made not long after this appointment, probably inspired by a painting by Jan Gossaert (c. 1472-1532): "Saint Luke Painting the Virgin" (Národní Galerie, Prague). Van Orley ran a large workshop, producing many panels of the same composition. There is another version that may have been made for a guild or public body (Prado, Madrid, inv. no. PO1536). The high quality and extra details of the Waddesdon painting indicate that it was an equally important autograph work (Farmer, 1981, pp. 103-9).

Complex symbolism and Italianate architecture set this composition apart as an intended demonstration of the master's skill. Scenes from Jason and the Golden Fleece and the dead rams' heads allude to Christ's fate and mankind's salvation. Panels of grottesque patterns are based on ancient paintings found underground in Rome. It is unlikely that van Orley travelled to Italy as Gossaert did; he probably studied Italian models in engravings, creating imaginative buildings as decorative backdrops with great effect.

In his will of 1897, Ferdinand de Rothschild (1839-1898) left the majority of the Smoking Room's content to the British Museum, however no paintings were included in the bequest. The 1898 inventory indicates that a sizeable collection remained, of which this was the star piece and sole Renaissance painting. Ferdinand's sister and heir, Alice, added similar works. They believed the work to be by Gossaert, also known as Mabuse, following the traditional attribution of the Prado panel. Subsequent stylistic analysis has demonstrated that both the Waddesdon and Prado works are by van Orley.

Phillippa Plock, 2014

Physical description

Dimensions (mm) / weight (mg)

455 x 392 x 19

Signature & date

not signed or dated

Labels

Right of P[illegible]
Window
Label
[fragment of handwritten label with printed
green border on lower frame member]

Sys ID: 1714 Acc. No:
Old Inv. No: W1/128/4
Van Orley
Madonna and child seated in a rich
architectural setting
rack 1 A [crossed out] Smoking Room
S. Wall (above Dinglinger) .
Label
[printed and handwritten (in graphite) luggage tag]

History

Provenance

Purchased by Thomas Baring (b.1799, d.1873); inherited by his nephew Thomas George Baring, Lord Northbrook (b.1826, d.1904); acquired by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild (b.1839, d.1898); inherited by his sister Alice de Rothschild (b.1847, d.1922); inherited by her great-nephew James de Rothschild (b.1878, d.1957); accepted by The Treasury Solicitor in lieu of taxes on the Estate of Mr James de Rothschild in 1963; given to Waddesdon (National Trust) in 1990.

Exhibition history

Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1871 (no. 226), lent by Thomas Baring
‘Bernard van Orley: Brussels and the Renaissance’, The Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels, 20 February - 26 May 2019

Collection

Waddesdon (National Trust)
Accepted by HM Government in lieu of inheritance tax and allocated to the National Trust for display at Waddesdon Manor, 1990

Bibliography

W. H. J. Weale, Jean Paul Richter; A descriptive catalogue of the Collection of Pictures belonging to the Earl of Northbrook; London; Griffith, Farran, Okeden, & Welsh; 1889; no. 19; as by Mabuse.
Dr. Max J. Friedländer; Early Netherlandish Painting; 14 vols; Leyden; A W Sijthoff; 1967; vol. 8, nos. 129 and 129a; as by van Orley.
Ellis Waterhouse, Anthony Blunt; Paintings: The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor; Fribourg; Office du Livre, The National Trust; 1967; p. 196, cat. no. 85, ill.; as c. 1520.
John David Farmer; Bernard van Orley of Brussels, unpublished doctoral dissertation, Princeton University.; 1981; pp. 108, 340, no. 129, fig. 63; as c. 1519.

Related files

- http://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/online-gallery/on-line-gallery/obra/the-virgin-of-louvain/ [version in the Prado, Madrid, accessed 2 December 2014]
- http://www.wga.hu/html_m/g/gossart/03stluke/1luke1.html [Gossaert's "St Luke", Prague, accessed 2 December 2014]

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