Property from a Private Collection
Follower of Quentin Massys
The Virgin and Child with a still life on a ledge
Lot closes
April 15, 11:10 AM GMT
Estimate
6,000 - 8,000 GBP
Starting Bid
4,500 GBP
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Read more.Lot Details
Description
Property from a Private Collection
Follower of Quentin Massys
The Virgin and Child with a still life on a ledge
oil on oak panel
unframed: 58 x 41.5 cm.; 22⅞ x 16⅜ in.
framed: 74.5 x 57.2 cm.; 29⅜ x 22½ in.
Possibly Vavasour collection, London (according to the 2019 sale catalogue);
With Duveen Brothers, by October 1926;
With Arnot Gallery, London, by March 1929;
Monsieur M.F.M.;
His sale, Amsterdam, De Vries, 14 May 1935, lot 43 (as Quentin Massys);
Anonymous sale, Marseilles, Leclere, 29 March 2019, lot 4 (as follower of Quentin Massys the Elder).
M. Friedländer, Early Netherlandish Painting, Quentin Massys, vol. VII, Leiden 1971, p. 62, no. 23b (as an old copy);
L. Silver, The Paintings of Quinten Massys, Oxford 1984, p. 227, no. F.23b (as a copy).
The composition for this painting is taken from Quentin Massys's Virgin and Child outdoors of around 1526, which is preserved today in the Detroit Institute of Arts.1 In this particular version, the landscape has been substituted for a warm, golden-brown background. Pigment analysis has demonstrated that this is original to this work. The still life on the ledge has here been expanded to include a cut peach and knife on a pewter plate, and a pair of plums with a bunch of grapes. Larry Silver has suggested that the grapes in the prime version are symbolic of redemption through Christ.
1 L. Silver, The Paintings of Quinten Massys, Oxford 1984, p. 227, no. 42, reproduced pl. 64.
