- Virgin and Child
Frame: 15 1/4 × 11 7/8 in. (38.7 × 30.2 cm)
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Rogier van der Weyden's exquisitely tender representation of the embracing Virgin and Child demonstrates his superlative drawing skills, his feel for design, and his unrivaled handling of oil paint. The painting became a highly popular model for private devotional works, as numerous miracles were attributed to it.
Rogier and Jan van Eyck are considered the greatest Netherlandish artists of the 15th century. The dramatic power and emotional intensity of Rogier's paintings exerted a powerful influence his contemporaries. In this work, the motif of the Christ Child turning toward Mary and pressing His cheek to hers is loosely based on a 14th-century Italian portrayal of the Virgin and Child, itself a replica of an earlier Italian icon in the Byzantine style.
In 1440, a clergyman from Cambrai, France, brought back from Rome an Italo-Byzantine Madonna painting that he bequeathed to his church in 1450. Installed in 1452 in the Cambrai Cathedral, that work became a highly popular model for private devotional art because of the miracles linked to it.
ProvenancePrivate collection, Hungary; [Paul Cassirer, Amsterdam, by 1924]; Fritz Hess collection, Berlin; [Hess Collection sale, Lucerne, Paul Cassirer and Theodore Fischer, September 1, 1931, lot 1]; purchased by [Strölin, Switzerland]; [Arnold Seligmann, Rey & Co., Inc., Paris and New York]; purchased by Percy S. Straus, December 29, 1931; bequeathed to MFAH, 1944.
Exhibition History"Masterpieces of Art," New York World's Fair, New York, 1939.
"Le Siecle des Primitifs Flamands," Bruges, June–September 1960.
"Masterpieces of Flemish Art: Van Eyck to Bosch," Detroit Institute of Arts, 1966.
"Paintings from American Museums, 1976 U.S.S.R. Exchange," State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, February 11–March 24, 1976; State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, April 8–May 20, 1976; State Museum of Ukrainian Art, Kiev, Ukraine, June 3–July 15, 1976; Belorussian State Museum of Fine Arts, Minsk, Belarus, July 30–September 10, 1976.
"Rogier van der Weyden," Conservation des Musées Communaux, Brussels, 1979.
"Virgin and Child," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, November 22, 1993–January 1994.
"Masterpieces of European Painting from the 15th to 20th Centuries from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation," The Museum of Art, Ehime, Matsuyama, Japan, April 13–May 30, 1999; Chiba Prefectural Art Museum, Japan, June 5–July 11, 1999; Mie Prefectural Art Museum, Tsu, Japan, July 17–August 22, 1999; Fukuoka Art Museum, Japan, August 27–October 3, 1999.
"Byzantium: Faith and Power 1261–1557," Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, March 15–July 4, 2004.
"The Arise of Modern Painting. Robert Campin, the 'Master of Flémalle', and Rogier van der Weyden," Städel Museum, Frankfurt, November 21, 2008–March 1, 2009; Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, March 20–June 21, 2009.
"Rogier van der Weyden: Master of Passions," Stedelijk Museum Vander Kelen-Mertens, Leuven, Belgium, September 18–December 6, 2009.
"Passion for Perfection: The Straus Collection of Renaissance Art," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, October 21, 2017–June 17, 2018.
"New Light on Old Masters: European Art from Houston Collections," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, October 2, 2021–January 23, 2022.
Cataloguing data may change with further research.
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