Early Netherlandish School, 16th Century

Madonna and Child,
oil on panel, 45 x 35 cm, framed

The present Madonna and Child is based on a type developed by Gerard David in the second decade of the sixteenth century, such as in his Madonna and Child at the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts in Brussels (inv. no. 3559). The composition spread among the artists of Gerard’s immediate circle and was returned to by the subsequent generation of artists for small devotional paintings. In terms of the figurative style, the present painting is close to the works of Cornelis van Cleve, who may have been familiarised with the composition through his father, Joos van Cleve.