A woman holds a baby, who touches her right breast.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

A light-skinned woman cradles a light-skinned baby. The woman has long, luminous reddish hair covered by a translucent white veil and black hood. Her face is heart-shaped, with a prominent widow’s peak. She has large, heavy-lidded eyes, a long nose, and a small mouth. The neck of her black robe is open, exposing her right breast. Her gaze is directed down at the baby, which she holds surrounded by a swath of white fabric. He is naked with his left leg bent, and he looks out toward the viewer. With his right hand he touches the woman’s breast.

Gallery Text

The use of oil as a medium revolutionized the art of painting. It allowed painters to layer pigments in translucent glazes that could be blended into a seamless finish. Bouts was influenced by Jan van Eyck, who pioneered the use of oil to represent luminous substances and fleeting effects. The transparent veil, flowing hair, glinting pearls, and pale, radiant skin of this Virgin and Child showcase the possibilities of the new medium. This painting, most likely part of a devotional diptych, is made using the same cartoon (full-scale preparatory drawing) as a painting now in Frankfurt. However, the painting’s underdrawing, as seen through the use of infrared reflectography, reveals a drawing of a standing nude woman. Bouts had a well-run workshop in which he also trained his two sons. Recent scholarship has proposed that this may be among the first independent works of the artist’s son Albrecht.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1959.186
People
Workshop of Dieric Bouts, Netherlandish (1420 - 1475)
Title
The Virgin and Child
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
c. 1475
Places
Creation Place: Europe, Netherlands
Culture
Netherlandish
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/228872

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2500, European Art, 13th–16th century, Art and Image in Europe
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on panel
Dimensions
29.7 x 20.3 cm (11 11/16 x 8 in.)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Mrs. Jesse Isidor Straus in memory of her husband, Jesse Isidor Straus, Class of 1893
Accession Year
1959
Object Number
1959.186
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Peter Schabacker and Elizabeth Jones, "Jan van Eyck's 'Woman at Her Toilet': Proposals concerning its Subject and Context", Annual Report (Fogg Art Museum) (1974-1976), pp. 56-78, p. 67, fig. 7
  • Charles Werner Haxthausen, The Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University, Abbeville Press (New York, NY, 1980), p. 56, repr. p. 57
  • Kristin A. Mortimer and William G. Klingelhofer, Harvard University Art Museums: A Guide to the Collections, Harvard University Art Museums and Abbeville Press (Cambridge and New York, 1986), no. 361, p. 304, repr.
  • Edgar Peters Bowron, European Paintings Before 1900 in the Fogg Art Museum: A Summary Catalogue including Paintings in the Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1990), p. 39, color plate; pp. 99, 168, repr. b/w cat. no. 94
  • Ron Spronk, "Three Boutsian Paintings in the Fogg Art Museum: Technical Examinations and Art Historical Implications", Bouts Studies: Proceedings of the International Colloquium [1998], ed. Bert Cardon, Uitgeverij Peeters (Leuven and Sterling, Virginia, 2001), pp. 424-431, repr. in color p. 425
  • J. S. Arney and Laura Arney, "Imaging Science in Art Conservation", ed. Joseph Hornak, J. Wiley (New York, NY, 2002), p. 672, technical photos repr. as figs. 17a and b
  • Gianfranco Pocobene and Ron Spronk, "The Fogg Art Museum's 'Virgin and Child' from the Workshop of Dirk Bouts: Findings from Technical Examinations and Recent Conservation Treatment": Methodology, Limitations, & Perspectives, Recent Developments in the Technical Examination of Early Netherlandish Painting, ed. Molly Faries, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2003), pp. 97-106, pp. 97-106; repr. as figs. 1, 5, 7-10, color plates 11, 12, 13
  • Catheline Perier-D'leteren, Dieric Bouts: The Complete Works, Mercatorfonds (Brussels, Belgium, 2006), pp. 147, 156-161, repr., 186, 299, repr.; also repr. pp. 148, 187
  • Diane Wolfthal, In and Out of the Marital Bed: Seeing Sex in Renaissance Europe, Yale University Press (U.S.) (New Haven, 2010), p. 149, fig. 114, p. 151 (infrared image)
  • Valentine Henderiks, Albrecht Bouts (1451/55-1549), Centre d'étude des primitifs flamands (Brussels, 2011), no. 7, pp. 344-345, pp. 105-108, figs. 68, 70 (detail)

Exhibition History

  • Northern European Art from 1450 to 1550, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/13/1994 - 02/05/1995
  • Investigating the Renaissance, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/01/1996 - 05/01/2009
  • 32Q: 2500 Renaissance, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

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Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu