Beschreibung:

MASTER OF THE EMBROIDERED FOLIAGE (netherlandish, active brussels, late 15th century) "NURSING MADONNA" Oil on cradled panel 33 3/4 x 28 in. (85.7 x 71.1 cm) provenance: Private Collection, Spain, 1912. The Spanish Gallery, London, 1912. Collection of Sir Francis Beaufort Palmer, United Kingdom, until 1919. His sale, Christie's, London, sale of April 11, 1919, lot 33. Buttery, London, 1920. Collection of Calouste Gulbenkian, London, United Kingdom. A gift from the above. Collection of Lord Radcliffe, later Baron Radcliffe, London, United Kingdom. His sale, Christie's, London, sale of June 26, 1959, lot 45. Faerber & Maison Ltd., London, United Kingdom. Christie's, London, sale of May 4, 1979, lot 123. Collection of Mr. and Mrs. George Farkas, New York, New York. A gift from the above. New York University Art Collection, New York, New York. EXHIBITED: "Exhibition of Flemish & Belgian Art (1300-1900), Royal Academy of Arts, London, United Kingdom, January 8-March 5, 1927, no. 131 (exhibited as "Rogier van der Weyden.") "L'Art Flamand dans les Collections Britanniques et la Galerie Nationale de Victoria," Musée Communal-Groeninge, Brussels, Belgium, August-September, 1956, no. 6 (as "School of Rogier van der Weyden"). "Art Treasures Centenary Exhibition," City Art Gallery, Manchester, United Kingdom, October 30-December 31, 1957, no. 21 (as "Master of the Embroidered Leaf"). LITERATURE: Flemish and Belgian Art, 1300-1900, an exhibition catalogue, London, 1927, no. 131, pp. 52-53. Tancred Borenius, "Memorial Catalogue of the Exhibition of Flemish and British Art," in Sir Martin Conway, London, 1927, no. 131, p. 57. Max Friendländer, "Noch Etwas über das Verhältnis Rogier van der Weydens zu Memling," in Oud-Holland, 1946, vol. LXI, pp. 15-16. Max Friendländer, Early Netherlandish Painting, vol. IV, 1967, no. 89, plate 82 (illustrated as "Master of the Embroidered Leaf"). L'Art Flamand dans les Collections Britanniques et la Galerie Nationale de Victoria, an exhibition catalogue, Bruges, 1956, p. 20. F. Grossman, "Flemish Paintings at Bruges," in The Burlington Magazine, vol. XCIX, January 1957, p. 4, note 12. Art Treasures Centenary: European Old Masters, an exhibition catalogue, Manchester, 1957, no. 21, pp. 6-7. Max Friendländer, "Rogier van der Weyden and the Master of Flémalle," in Early Netherlandish Painting, vol. II, Éd. Nicole Veronee-Verhaegen, New York-Washington D.C., 1967, p. 90, add. 137. Max Friendländer, "Hugo van der Goes," in Early Netherlandish Painting, vol. IV, Éd. Nicole Veronee-Verhaegen, New York-Washington D.C., 1967, no. 89, plate 82, pp. 65, 82 and 101. Le Maître au Feuillage Brodé: Secrets d'Atelier, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille, R.M.N., 2005, fig. 5, p. 18 (illustrated). Le Maître au Feuillage Brodé: Démarches d'Artistes et Méthodes d'Attribution d'Oeuvres à un Peintre Anonyme des Anciens Pays-Bas du XVe siècle, Symposium organised by Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille, Librarie des Musées, 2007, discussed p. 173. NOTE: Comfortably swaddled in the arms of his mother, the baby smiles. She tenderly looks back at him, seated on the steps of a wooden throne surmounted by a damask baldachin, and gives him her breast, from which a drop of milk has just escaped. Her magnificent draped clothes fall heavily on the floor, whose tiles lead to a small open passage flanked by twisted columns. Outside, everything appears peaceful. Flowers, ferns and grasses are arranged in an amazing and detailed variety. Two white greyhounds face each other in the blooming vegetation, while a peacock scans the horizon, majestically installed on the crenellation of the surrounding wall. In the distance, a river flows gently towards a far away town. MADONNA LACTANS The scene depicts the Virgin Mary breastfeeding the Infant Jesus. It belongs to the iconography of the Madonna Lactans, or Nursing Madonna, an intimate 12th century representation of the Madonna and Child, in which Mary is shown nursing Christ. This painting, attributed to the