Early Netherlandish Master

First quarter of the 16th Century | Ca. 1515/25

Virgo Lactans

Oil on panel
H. 40 cm. W. 32 cm.

LITERATUE
Catalogue Kunst-en Antiekbeurs Delft | 1982 | With ill.

CATALOGUE NOTE
The present picture was formally attributed to the so-called ‘Master of the Mansi Magdalen’, a still anonymous Early Netherlandish Master who was active in Antwerp between ca. 1510 and 1530. His name is derived from a picture known as ‘The Mansi Magdalen’, a depiction of Saint Mary Magdalene which was formerly in the collection of the Marchese Giovanni Battista Mansi in Lucca and was acquired in 1897 by the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museums-Verein for the Berlin Gemäldegalerie (at present kept in the collection of the Staatliche Museum in Berlin). The Master of the Mansi Magdalene can be situated in the immediate succession of the influential Antwerp master Quentin Massys (ca. 1465/6 – 1530), to whom he is stylistically very similar. Furthermore, he seems to have been familiar with graphic works by Albrecht Dürer and Marcantonio Raimondi. According to Max J. Friedländer, he could possibly be identical with the otherwise untraceable Willem van Muelenbroec, who was active as a pupil in Massys’ workshop in 1501. Even though striking similarities with other know works given to the Master of the Mansi Magdalen can be observed (e.g. the distinct physiognomy of Virgin and Child by the Master of the Mansi Magdalen, kept in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv.nr. 21.134.2) a firm attribution to this rather indefinable Early Netherlandish Master does not appear to be sustainable.

A second version of the present Virgo Lactans-composition, also executed in oil on panel and of virtually similar dimensions, is kept in the collection of Musée des Beaux-Arts de Liège, which is attributed to Early Netherlandish Master Joachim Patinir (Bouvignes-sur-Meuse, ca. 1480 – Antwerp, 1524). In 1515 Patinir was registered as a member of Antwerp’s Guild of Saint Luke in 1515. He lived and worked in that city for the rest of his life, until his death in 1524. However, given the known oeuvre of Patinir – who is particularly celebrated for his panoramic landscapes which dwarf his figures, which are of very variable quality – the Liège attribution also appears unsustainable. As such, at present a convincing attribution of this fine picture can not be given.

Both pictures show an extensive mountainous landscape in the background. A particularly interesting detail is depicted the meadow beside the river in the background to the right, which has been recognised by Drs. Edwina Brinckmann-Rouffaer as an ancient irrigation system, known as a ‘flood meadow’. Although there is no clear art historic evidence for this, it is tempting to interpret this specific feature as a symbol of fertility, where flooding could relate to the Lactans-iconography. The manor difference between the two pictures, are the later added hallows, the necklace of the Christ Child and a drapery party obscuring the Virgins exposed chest. The latter is most likely an addition in order to prudishly and modestly cover the Virgins nakedness. Since these concern historic additions which are part of the history of this fine picture, these have been preserved.

The Virgio Lactans-motive – the iconographic type of the Madonna and Child in which the Virgin is shown breastfeeding the Child Child – was a popular theme, both within Marian theology and devotion, as well as in Medieval and Renaissance art. The depiction of the Nursing Madonna highlight the maternity of the Virgin. It focuses especially on the Virgis’s gift of breastfeeding: a symbol not only of her motherhood of Christ but also of her care and love towards humanity. In Dutch and Flemish early Renaissance painting, especially in Antwerp, the Virgio Lactans-motive functioned as a variant of the newly-popular subject of the Holy Family (a Virgin and Child with Saint Joseph). Especially the Antwerp Master Joos van Cleve (ca. 1485 – 1540/1) polarised this motive. Executed on small panels, the pictures were intended for domestic used and private devotion, resulting is a wide spread of Virgo Lactans depictions. The present picture can be placed in this tradition. Even though it is not known by whom, the pictures was most likely painted in Antwerp – then the centre of the art market in the Low Countries – between ca. 1515 and 1525 and forms a fine example of the flourishing art of the early Northern Renaissance.