Madonna and Child Enthroned

Artist Hans Memling (Netherlandish, ca. 1430-1494)

Formerly attributed toWorkshop of Hans Memling (Netherlandish, ca. 1430-1494)

Formerly attributed to Rogier van der Weyden (Netherlandish, 1464)

Dateca. 1465-1470

MediumOil on wood panel

DimensionsOverall: 29 11/16 × 20 9/16 inches (75.41 × 52.23 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust

Object number44-43

SignedNone

On View

Not on view

Gallery Location

Collections

European Art

Terms

DescriptionCenter, Virgin in red robe seated under a Gothic arch with unclothed Infant in lap supported by right hand, holding book in her left hand of which the Infant is turning the leaves; above, two angels in blue, floating, hold crown. On each side of the Virgin an angel stands playing a musical instrument. Background, closed garden with townhouses on each side, landscape with distant towers beyond; gold sky.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Exposition Memling, Groeningemuseum, Bruges, June 22-October 1, 1939, no. 26.

Masterpiece of the Month, The Nelson Gallery and Atkins Museum, Kansas City, MO, December 1944, no cat.

Diamond Jubilee Exhibition: Masterpieces of Painting Philadelphia Museum of Art, November 4, 1950-February 11, 1951, no. 8.

Gardens of the Middle Ages, Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, KS, March 20-May 1, 1983, no. 24.

City Views, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, May 31-July 10, 1983, no. 5.

Hans Memling, Groeningemuseum, Bruges, August 12-November 15, 1994, no. 1.

Hans Memling and Italy, Scuderie del Quirinale, Rome, Italy, October 9-January 18, 2014-2015.

Gallery Label

Memling was born in Germany but worked for most of his life in the artistic and commercial center of Bruges in present-day Belgium. This painting is an example of his spiritual and refined manner, which greatly appealed to wealthy Burgher collectors as a symbol of their sophistication, elevated status and piety. The unrealistic golden sky, typical of the Gothic style and symbolizing the otherworldly spiritual realm, is here contrasted with the greater realism of the buildings and gardens typical of the Renaissance. Although set back behind the arch, the Virgin seems to thrust forward into the spectator's space, emphasizing the function of the picture as an image for private devotion.

Provenance

Princess Salm-Salm, by 1888;

Her sale, Kunstsammlungen Ihrer Durchlaucht Prinzessin Salm-Salm, Lempertz, Bonn, December 20, 1888, lot 88, as by Rogier van der Weyden, Heilige Familie, 1888;

With Van Diemen, Berlin, by 1920-1921;

Purchased from Van Diemen by Prince Pallavicini, Rome and Basel, 1921-December 31, 1925 [1];

Purchased from Pallavicini by Duveen Brothers, New York, stock no. 28515, December 31, 1925-April 20, 1927 [2];

Purchased from Duveen by Mortimer L. Schiff (1877-1931), New York, April 20, 1927-1931;

By descent to his son, John Mortimer Schiff (1904-1987), New York, 1931-1944 [3];

Purchased from Schiff through Jacques Seligmann and Co., New York, stock nos. 6996 and 7058, by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1944 [4].

NOTES:

[1] Prince Pallavicini was perhaps Ugo Pallavicini (1853-1925).

[2] The sales transaction involved a complex series of negotiations between Paul Ganz, Cassirer’s in Berlin, and Pallavicini’s bank partners in Switzerland. The negotiations are documented in a series of letters in the Getty Research Library, Los Angeles, Special Collections, Duveen Brothers Archives.

[3] Offered for sale by Schiff at Important Pictures and Drawings by Old Masters Being a Part of the Collection Formed by the Late Mortimer L. Schiff, Esq., Now Sold by Order of John Mortimer Schiff, Esq., Christie, Manson, and Woods, London, June 24, 1938, lot 86, but failed to sell.

[4] Schiff placed the painting on consignment with Jacques Seligmann and Co. in 1938 and it remained so until its purchase by NAMA in 1944.

Published References

Katalog der Kunstsammlungen Ihrer Durchlaucht Prinzessing Salm-Salm Und des Rentners B... (Cologne: M. Lempertz Antiquariat, December 20- December 21, 1888), 17, (repro.).

Paul Ganz, "A ‘Virgin Enthroned' by Hans Memling,” The Burlington Magazine 46, no. 262-267 (January-June 1925): 206, 235-36, (repro.).

Paul Ganz, "An Early Picture by Hans Memling," Apollo 4, no. 21 (September 1926): 108-109, (repro.).

George Hulin de Loo, "Hans Memling in Rogier van der Weyden's Studio,” The Burlington Magazine 52, no. 298-303 (January-June 1928): 165n2, 166.

Max J. Friedländer, Die Altniederländische Malerei, vol. 6, Memling und Gerard David (Berlin: Cassirer, 1928), 26, 127, (repro.).

"Schiff to Sell Art Father Collected,” The New York Times (March 16, 1938): 19.

"Schiff Will Sell His Father's Art in London Soon,” The New York Herald Tribune (March 16, 1938): 17.

"Englischer Kunstmarkt: USA. Besitz auf Londoner Versteigerungen,“ Weltkunst 12, nos. 24/ 25 (June 19, 1938): 3.

Catalogue of Important Pictures and Drawings by Old Masters Being Part of the Collection of Mortimer L. Schiff, Esq., Sold by the Order of John Mortimer Schiff, Esq. (London: Christie, Manson, and Wood, June 24, 1938), 32, 86, (repro.).

Paul Lambotte and Graaf d'Arschot-Schoonhoven, Memling Tentoonstelling ingericht door het Stadsbestuur in het Stedelijk Museum te Brugge, exh. cat. (Bruges: Desclée Brouwer 1939), 72, 87, (repro.).

Paul Lambotte, Exposition Memling, exh. cat. (Bruges: Desclée, De Brouwer et cie, 1939), 23, 69-70, (repro.).

Max J. Friedlander, "The Memling Exhibition at Bruges,” The Burlington Magazine 75, no. 438 (September 1939): 124.

Wolfgang Schöne, "Hans Memling: The Exhibition of His Works at Bruges;” Pantheon 24 (September 1939): 35, 291, 294.

"Masterpiece of the Month,” Gallery News (The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts) 11, no. 3 (December 1944): 2-3.

"For Kansas City,” Art News 43, no. 16 (December, 1944): cover, 9, (repro.).

H.C.H., "Art and Artists: The Nelson Gallery Acquires a Fine Hans Memling Madonna,” The Kansas City Star 65, no. 76 (December 1, 1944): 30.

"Shorter Notices: A Memling for Kansas City," The Burlington Magazine 86, nos. 503-13 (March 1945): 72, 76, (repro.).

Helen Comstock, ''The Connoisseur in America: A Memling for the Nelson Gallery of Art,” Connoisseur 116, no. 497 (September 1945): 37, (repro.).

Pamphlet for the Kansas City Philharmonic Orchestra, December 14-15, 1946, clipping, NAMA curatorial files.

"Special Exhibitions,” Gallery News (The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts): 15, no. 7 (April 1949): unpaginated.

The William Rockhill Nelson Collection, 3^rd ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1949), 75, (repro.).

Diamond Jubilee Exhibition: Masterpieces of Painting, exh. cat. (Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1950), unpaginated, (repro.).

"Loans to Others,” Gallery News (The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts) 17, no. 2 (November 1950): unpaginated.

"Gallery Notes," Gallery News (The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts) 17, no. 7 (April 1951): unpaginated.

Letter from Robert Koch to P. Kelleher, February 9, 1955, NAMA curatorial files.

Letter from David G. Carter to Ross Taggart, February 11, 1955, NAMA curatorial files.

Letter from Nicole Veronee-Verhaegen to Ross Taggart, March 14, 1955, NAMA curatorial files.

Ross E. Taggart, ed., Handbook of the Collections in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 4^th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1959), 76, 77, 260, (repro.).

Flanders in the Fifteenth Century: Art and Civilization, exh. cat. (The Detroit Institute of Arts, 1960), 141.

Germain Seligman, Merchants of Art, 1880-1960: Eighty Years of Professional Collecting (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1961), unpaginated, (repro.).

Maria Corti and Gorgio T. Faggin, L'opera completa di Memling (Milan: Rizzoli Editore, 1969), no. 76, pp. 106-7, (repro.).

Lola B. Malkis Gellman, "Petrus Christus,” (PhD diss., The John Hopkins University, 1970): xii, 220-221, 243, 350n129, 575, (repro.).

Max J. Friedländer, Early Netherlandish Painting, vol. 6, part 1, Hans Memlinc and Gerard David, trans. Heinz Norden (Leyden: Sijthoff, 1971), no. 59, pp. 19, 53, (repro.).

Ross E. Taggart and George L. McKenna, eds., Handbook of the Collections in The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Missouri, vol. 1, Art of the Occident, 5^th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1973), 96, (repro.), 257.

John D. Morse, Old Master Paintings in North America (New York: Abbeville Press, 1979), 198.

Barbara Lane, Die großen Meister der Malerei: Hans Memling Werkverzeichnis (Frankfurt: Ullstein KunstBuch, 1980), 94, 95, (repro.), as a rejected painting by Memling.

Marilyn Stokstad & Jerry Stannard, Gardens of the Middle Ages (Lawrence, Kansas: Spencer Museum of Art, 1983), 85, 142, (repro.).

John H. Harvey, review of Gardens of the Middle Ages ,by Marilyn Stokstad and Jerry Stannard, Garden History 9, no. 2 (Autumn, 1983), 176.

Ross E. Taggart & Roger Ward, City Views, exh. cat. (Kansas City, Missouri: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, (Spring, 1983), 9, 20, (repro.).

Anne Hagopian van Buren, review of Gardens of the Middle Ages, by Marilyn Stokstad and Jerry Stannard, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 43, no. 1 (March 1984), 94, as by a minor Brussels artist, perhaps the Master of the Saint Catherine Legend.

The Olathe Daily News 27, no. 231 (December 25, 1986), 1, (repro.).

Guy C. Bauman and Walter A. Liedtke, Flemish Paintings in America: A Survey of Early Netherlandish and Flemish Paintings in the Public Collections of North America (Antwerp: Fonds Mercator, 1992), 352, (repro.).

Michael Churchman & Scott Erbes, High Ideals and Aspirations: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1933-1993 (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 63.

Molly Faries, “Master and Pupil: A North Netherlandish Example,” in Le dessin sous-jacent dans la peinture, Colloque IX (1991): Dessin sousjacent et pratiques d'atelier, eds. Roger van Schoute and Hélèn Verougstraete-Marcq (Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium: Universite Catholique de Louvain, Institut Superieur d' Archeologie et d'Histoire de I' Art, 1993), 102-103, 108n8, (repro.).

Kristie C. Wolferman, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: Culture Comes to Kansas City (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1993), 184-186, (repro.).

Maryan W. Ainsworth, Hans Memling: Essays (Gent: Ludion, 1994), 78-83, (repro.).

Dirk de Vos, ed., Hans Memling, exh. cat. (Bruges: Ludion, 1994), 1: 16, 32-33, 45n1, 177, 186, (repro.); 2: 79-80, 81n11, (repro.).

Dirk de Vos, Hans Memling: The Complete Works (London: Thames & Hudson, 1994), no. 1, pp. 76, 77, 376, 377-78, 388-89, 392, (repro.).

Philippe Lorentz, ed., Hans Memling au Louvre, exh. cat. (Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1995), 82, 83.

Lorne Campbell, "Exhibition Review: Bruges Hans Memling,” The Burlington Magazine, 137, no. 1105 (1995): 265.

Till-Holger Borchert, "Forschungsberichte: Hans Memling, Ausstellung im Brügger Groeningemuseum und Monographic van Dirk de Vos," Kunstchronik 49 (January 1996): 20, 24-27, (repro.).

Molly Faries, “The Underdrawing of Memling’s Last Judgment Altarpiece in Gdansk,” in Memling Studies, Proceedings of the International Colloquium (Bruges, 10-12 November 1994), eds. Helene Veroustraete, Roger van Schoute, and Maurits Smeyers (Louvain, Belgium: Uitgeverij Peeters 1997), 243-245, 255n28, (repro.).

William T. Squires, Art, Experience and Criticism (Needham Heights, Massachusetts: Simon & Schuster, 1997), 90, 92, (repro.).

Molly Faries, "Underdrawings in Cologne Painting, Interpretative Issues Related to Attribution and Workshop Practice," in Unsichtbare Meisterzeichnungen auf dem Malgrund, Cranach und seine Zeitgenossen, ed. Ingo Sandner (Regensburg: Schnell und Steiner, 1998), 309-316.

Sophie Guillot de Suduiraut, Sculptures brabançonnes du musée du Louvre Bruxelles, Malines, Anvers, XVe-XVIe siècles (Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux 2001), 83, (repro.).

Burton L. Dunbar, The Collections of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: German and Netherlandish Paintings, 1450-1600 (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2005), 10, 17n57, 20, 22-23, 28, 29, 138, 148-162, 166, 278.

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.