Description
This view of the Holy Family in an interior is filled with the trappings of a comfortable bourgeois existence. Its unknown maker was probably working from a repertory of pattern drawings derived from the most innovative Netherlandish painters of the early 15th century, Rogier van der Weyden and Jan van Eyck. The pose of the Virgin and the buffet with its brass and pewter vessels are particularly indebted to their work. At the same time, the painting’s dry style and its use of a spruce rather than an oak panel for the support are indications that it was made in Southern Germany.
Provenance
Louis Ehrich, New York, by 1888; placed on deposit at Yale University Art Gallery, 1888–94 Chicago Herald 1888; and [Cook] 1888; for the Ehrich pictures on deposit at Yale, see [Clarence Cook], “The Ehrich Collection of Old Dutch and Flemish Pictures,” Studio, n.s., 3, 9 (1888), pp. 132–34]; sold, Fifth Avenue Art Galleries, New York, Jan. 22–23, 1895, no. 93, as Roger van der Weyden. Martin A. Ryerson (d. 1932), Chicago, by 1924 [according to registrar’s receipt; Ryerson probably acquired it at or shortly after the Ehrich sale, since he possessed a guarantee (now Art Institute Archives) signed by Ehrich referring to “number 93” in the sale and giving a price of $775]; on loan to the AIC from 1924; bequeathed to the AIC, 1933.
Accession Number
16275
Medium
Oil on panel
Dimensions
50.2 × 47.8 cm (19 3/4 × 18 3/4 in.); Framed: 59.7 × 59.1 cm (23 1/2 × 23 1/4 in.)
Classification
oil on panel
Credit Line
Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection
