Skip to Content
Home>Collection>Mary, Queen of Heaven
Overview

This unusually large panel painting depicts three facets of Marian iconography: the Virgin's corporeal assumption, the Immaculate Conception—the crescent moon and the radiance behind her identify Mary as the Woman of the Apocalyse, mentioned in Revelation 12:I—and the Coronation of the Virgin. The painting is of great interest to musicologists in that it depicts Renaissance instruments with great accuracy and also reflects contemporary performance practices in the arrangement of the music–making angels. At the top, a full orchestra plays before the three figures of the Trinity. The ensemble around the Virgin is a mixed consort composed of "loud" instruments (trumpets and shawms) and "soft" instruments (vielle, lute, and harp). Two of the singing angels hold books bearing legible lyrics and notations. This music, which is the source of the painting's title, has been identified as derived from a setting of the Marian antiphon, Ave Regina Caelorum, by Walter Frye (d. 1474/1475), an English composer whose works were popular on the Continent, particularly at the Burgundian court.

Historians refer to the artist as the Master of the Saint Lucy Legend because his principal work, an alterpiece dated 1480, depicts episodes from the life of that saint. His style is characterized in both paintings by oval faces that are restrained in expression, the use of extraordinarily intense color, and a tendency to over–emphasize elaborate textures.

More information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication Early Netherlandish Painting, which is available as a free PDF https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/early-netherlandish-painting.pdf

Inscription

on the sheet of music held by the angel to the left of the Virgin's head: A / ve regina celorum mr regis[?]; on the sheet of music held by the angel to the right of the Virgin's head: A / Tenor ve / regina

Provenance

Probably Don Pedro Fernández de Velasco, Count of Haro and Constable of Castile [d. 1492], for the convent of Santa Clara, Medina de Pomar, near Burgos, until at least 1934.[1] Raimundo Ruiz y Ruiz, Madrid.[2] (French & Company, New York, by c. 1947); purchased 1949 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York; gift 1952 by exchange to NGA.

[1] According to notes from the Kress Foundation records, now in the NGA curatorial files, an escutcheon at the top of the purportedly original frame once bore the arms of Don Pedro Fernández de Velasco, Count of Haro and Constable of Castile (c. 1425-1492). An old photograph in the curatorial files shows a space at the top of the frame where the arms may have been. Colin Eisler, Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools Excluding Italian, (Oxford, 1977), 61, thinks the frame is original and made in Spain; the Gallery's frame and painting conservators suggest that the frame is not original, but includes portions of an old frame. The records of French & Company indicate only that the painting was "said to have been the gift of a Constable of Castile to a convent near Burgos founded by his daughter and suppressed in the nineteenth century," correspondence of 19 July 1967 to Eisler and Eisler (as above), 63. The most convincing suggestion for the painting's original location is made by Ann Roberts, "The Master of the Legend of Saint Lucy: A Catalogue and Critical Essay," Ph.D. diss. (University of Pennsylvania, 1982), 92-95, who places it in the chapel of the Immaculate Conception in the convent of Santa Clara in Medina de Pomar, near Burgos. Don Pedro's daughter, Doña Leonor, was abbess of the convent. Don Pedro had begun construction of the chapel in 1460 and his son finished paying for it. Roberts cites a description of a painting in the convent in 1934 that accords in terms of dimensions, style, and subject matter with Mary, Queen of Heaven; this is contained in Julián Garcia Sáinz de Baranda, Medina de Pomar. Como Lugar Arqueológico y Centro de Turismo de las Merindades de Castilla-Vieja, (Alcala de Henares, 1934), 88: "Otra table flamenca atribuida a Van der Weiden, de unos dos metros de alta, por 1,50 de ancha que tiene por asunto la Asuncion de la Virgen obra maestra llena de colorido y expresion." The identification would seem to be strengthened by the fact that the painting is not mentioned in Jacques Lavalleye, Primitifs flamands. Corpus. Collections d'Espagne, 2 vols. (Antwerp, 1953-1958), although another painting from the same convent is catalogued, 2: 17. Lavalleye states, 2: 7, that he visited the province of Burgos in 1954.

[2] Letter of 19 July 1967 from Robert Davis, French & Company, to Dale Kinney, assistant to Colin Eisler, in the NGA curatorial files. This letter was made available by Dr. Eisler.

Exhibition History
2016
A Feast for the Senses: Art and Experience in Medieval Europe, Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, 2016-2017, no. 42, repro. (shown only in Sarasota in 2017).
Technical Summary

The support consists of six boards with vertical grain. X-radiographs show that the joins are reinforced with dowels. A smooth white ground is present.[1] The presence of a barbe on all sides indicates that the panel is very close to its original size and was painted in an engaged frame. In general, the painting is in very good condition, but there are numerous small losses throughout and somewhat larger losses in the upper paint layers of the landscape. Some retouches have darkened. Examination with infrared reflectography reveals extensive underdrawing, discussed below. The painting was cleaned and restored in 1950-1951 and a very small area of flaking paint was restored in 1962.

[1] Kress 1951, 182, states that the paint was applied directly to the panel without an intervening ground; this error is repeated by Walker 1963, 106, but corrected in Eisler 1977, 63, n. 6.

Bibliography
1934
Garcia Sáinz de Baranda, Julián. Medina de Pomar. Como Lugar Arqueológico y Centro de Turisma de las Merindades de Castilla-Vieja. Alcala de Henares, 1934: 88.
1951
Frankfurter, Alfred. "Interpreting Masterpieces. Twenty-four Paintings from the Kress Collection." Art News 50 (1951): 101-102, repro. 104, 101.
1951
Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1945-1951. Introduction by John Walker, text by William E. Suida. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1951: 182, no. 80, repro.
1952
Frankfurter, Alfred M. "Interpreting Masterpieces: Twenty-four Paintings from the Kress Collection." Art News Annual 16 (1952): 101-102, repro. 104
1952
Walker, John. "Your National Gallery of Art After 10 Years." National Geographic Magazine 101 no. 1 (January 1952): 76, repro. 100.
1955
Shapley, Fern Rusk. "The National Gallery of Art at Washington: Acquisitions 1945-1955." The Studio 150, no. 748 (July 1955): 6.
1957
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Comparisons in Art: A Companion to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. London, 1957 (reprinted 1959): pl. 21.
1959
Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 286, repro.
1959
Verhaegen, Nicole. "Le Maître de la Légende de sainte Lucie. Précisions sur son oeuvre." Bulletin de l'Institut royal du Patrimoine artistique 2 (1959): 81-82.
1960
Broadley Hugh T. Flemish Painting in the National Gallery of Art (Booklet no. 5 in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC). Washington, 1960: 26-27, color repro.
1961
Baudouin, Frans. "Der Meister des Bartholomäusaltares und die südniederländische Malerei des 15. Jahrhunderts." Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch 23 (1961): 357-358.
1961
Goldblatt, Maurice. Deux grands maîtres français. Paris, 1961: 42, 44, fig. 21.
1961
Verhaegen, Nicole. "Un important retable du Maître de la Légende de sainte Lucie conservé à Tallinn." Bulletin de l'Institut royal du Patrimoine artistique 4 (1961): 143.
1961
Walker, John, Guy Emerson, and Charles Seymour. Art Treasures for America: An Anthology of Paintings & Sculpture in the Samuel H. Kress Collection. London, 1961: 61: 68, 218, fig. 61, color fig. 62.
1962
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. Treasures from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1962: 58, color repro.
1963
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 106, repro.
1963
Winternitz, Emanuel. "On Angel Concerts in the 15th Century: A Critical Approach to Realism and Symbolism in Sacred Painting." The Musical Quarterly 49 (1963): 263, 459-460, pl. 5. (Reprinted as Musical Instruments and their Symbolism in Western Art New York, 1967: 145-149, pl. 66, 67).
1964
Gaya Nuño, Juan Antonio. Pintura europea perdida por España, de van Eyck a Tiépolo. Madrid, 1964: 27, no. 32, pl. X.
1964
Kenney, Sylvia. Walter Frye and the Contenance Angloise. New Haven and London, 1964: 153-155, pls. 6-9.
1965
Chrisman, Jo, and Charles B. Fowler. "Music Performance in a Renaissance Painting." Music Educators' Journal (November/December, 1965): 93-98, pls. I-VIII and cover.
1965
Eisler, Colin. "The Sittow Assumption." Art News 64 (September, 1965): 35-37, fig. 6.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 87.
1966
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 1:90-91, color repro.
1966
Schiller, Gertrud. Ikonographie der christlichen Kunst. 6 vols. Gütersloh, 1966-1990: 4, pt. 2: 170, 258 436, fig. 776.
1967
Friedländer, Max J. Early Netherlandish Painting. 14 vols. in 16. Brussels and Leiden, 1967-1976: 6,part 2(1971):115, Add. 277, pl. 257.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 76, repro.
1969
Rensch, Roslyn. The Harp. Its History, Technique and Repertoire. London, 1969: 56-57.
1970
Cooke, Hereward Lester. The National Gallery of Art in Washington. Munich and Ahrbeck/Hanover, 1970: 64-65, color fig. 29.
1970
Meyer-Baer, Kathi. Music of the Spheres and the Dance of Death. Princeton, 1970: 170-171, fig. 82.
1975
Carapezza, Paolo. "Regina angelorum in musica picta. Walter Frye e il `Maître au Feuillage Brodé.'" Revista italiana di musicologia 10 (1975): 135-136, 152-154, pl. 4.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue (National Gallery of Art). Washington, 1975: 226-227, repro.
1975
Fischer, Pieter. Music in Paintings of the Low Countries in the 16th and 17th Centuries. Amsterdam, 1975: 8, fig. 9, 10.
1975
Winternitz, Emanuel. "Secular Musical Practice in Sacred Art." In The Secular Spirit: Life and Art at the End of the Middle Ages. Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1975: 230, repro. 231.
1976
Larsen, Erik. Review of Friedländer 1971, vol. 6. In Art Journal 35 (1976): 298.
1976
Mirimonde, Albert P. de. "La musique chez les peintres de la fin de l'ancienne école de Bruges." Jaarboek van het Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen (1976): 42-51, figs. 17-23.
1976
Mirimonde, Albert P. de. "Le sablier, la musique et la danse dans les `Noces de Cana' de Paul Véronèse." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 88 (1976): 134.
1976
Vos, Dirk de. "Nieuwe toeschrijvingen aan de Meester van de Lucialegende alias de Meester van de Rotterdamse Johannes op Patmos." Oud Holland 90 (1976): 157.
1977
Eisler, Colin. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools Excluding Italian. Oxford, 1977: 61-63, figs. 54, 55, as The Assumption and Coronation of the Immaculately Conceived Virgin by The Master of the St. Lucy Legend and Assistant, color repro detail.
1977
Pope-Hennessy, John. "Completing the Account." Review of Colin Eisler, Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection, London 1977. Times Literary Supplement no. 3,927 (17 June 1977).
1979
Watson, Ross. The National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1979: 52-53, pl. 34.
1980
Châtelet, Albert. Early Dutch Painting. New York, 1981: 227, no. 102.
1982
Roberts, Ann. "The Master of the Legend of Saint Lucy: A Cataloque and Critical Essay." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1982: 92-95, 154-159, 185, 190, 194, 202-207, 219-222, cat. no. 7, figs. 13, 14.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 136, no. 133, color repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 258, repro.
1986
Hand, John Oliver and Martha Wolff. Early Netherlandish Painting. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, 1986: 177-183, repro. 178.
1991
Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 185, 186, color repro.
1992
National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 43, repro.
1998
Apostolos-Cappadona, Diane. "Virgin/Virginity." In Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography: Themes Depicted in Works of Art. Edited by Helene E. Roberts. 2 vols. Chicago, 1998: 2:905.
1998
Pinson, Yona. “Music." In Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography: Themes Depicted in Works of Art. Edited by Helene E. Roberts. 2 vols. Chicago, 1998: 2:636.
2004
Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 52-53, no. 37, color repro.
2011
Weniger, Matthias. Sittow, Morros, Juan de Flandes: Drei Maler aus dem Norden am Hof Isabellas der Katholischen. Kiel, 2011: 130, no. N49.
Related Content