Madonna and Child with Saints in the Enclosed Garden

c. 1440/1460

Three women, two men, and an infant are gathered within a walled garden that extends off a building, its façade visible to the left, in this horizontal painting. The women have pale white skin and the men have olive-toned complexions. The men and women all wear voluminous, flowing robes and garments in lapis blue, ruby red, rose pink, olive or spring green. At the center a woman, Mary, supports a partially nude and squirming infant on her lap. Mary has wavy blond hair and wears a dark blue velvet robe that pools on the ground around her, with a lighter blue dress beneath. She sits on a chair with wooden spindle arms facing forward, toward us. She holds up the infant with interlaced fingers that wrap around his middle, and she inclines her head down and to our left, toward the infant. The child has blond hair, wide open blue eyes, and a chubby, pink-cheeked face. He is wrapped in a long, shimmery gold robe with brown cuffs and collar, which is open over his lower torso and legs. Facing our right, the child reaches with his left arm, palm outward. An array of shimmery, gold painted lines fan out around the heads of Mary and the infant. Just beyond the child’s reach, a woman in a red dress and shoulder-length, white head covering bends toward him and holds out a golden apple or other fruit. To our right, an elderly man has a full gray beard, and he gazes to our left. He leans, semi-stooping, on a walking stick that pins the hem of his garment. He wears a flowing cape in olive green with a black hood bunched across his shoulders, and a black skullcap. At his right foot, a small hog noses out from amid the draped garments. To the left of Mary stands a tall man in a spring-green cape with a gold lining, which hangs around his knees, exposing his lower legs and bare feet. He has bushy brown hair and a full beard. He cradles a small white lamb in his left arm while gesturing toward it with his right. His head is turned to our right, and he gazes off in that direction. Next to him, on the left side of the painting, a pale woman with flowing red hair in a pale pink cape sits on the ground directly in front of an arched doorway leading into the stone building. She sits facing our right, almost in profile. She bends her head toward a large, bound book resting on her lap that has lines of calligraphic writing in black and red. Propped beneath her right arm and projecting outward is a black metal sword that has a heart-shaped top. The sword’s tip touches a wooden wheel that lies on the grass, partially under the woman’s garments. The brick wall behind the group is covered across its width with a green and gold tapestry or cloth with a repeating floral motif. In the center, a vertical woven cloth of red and gold heraldic designs, with blue and green details, extends to the top of the painting, forming a backdrop behind Mary and the child. The ground is covered with green vegetation and a few small, pale yellow flowers blooming at the group’s feet. Over the wall, which is slightly higher than the standing man’s head, a sliver of blue sky and treetops is visible.

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.

This large panel painting by a follower of Robert Campin combines the new interest in nature of the fifteenth-century Netherlandish artists with a long tradition of symbolic religious painting. There is a thoroughly believable quality about the heavy folds of drapery, the delicate leaves of the flowers, and the shallow space within the garden walls. Yet this world is invested with mystical overtones through the figures' quiet poses and the minutely observed details which are painted in glowing oil colors and displayed in a steady light.

John the Baptist holds a lamb, recalling his recognition of Christ as the "Lamb of God." Seated on the left is Catherine of Alexandria with her sword and wheel, the instruments of her martyrdom. Saint Barbara offers Jesus an apple or a quince, an age-old symbol of love. Her special attribute is the impregnable tower, a symbol of her chastity. Half-hidden by Saint Anthony's robe, a pig beside him symbolizes gluttony, recalling his triumph over temptation.

The walled garden refers to a passage from the Song of Solomon where a bridegroom speaks of his beloved as "a garden enclosed ... a fountain sealed." To early Christian and medieval theologians, Mary became associated with this bride, and the enclosed garden symbolized her virginity and also the lost Eden which is regained through Christ's birth. Even the doorway recalls Christ's saying, "I am the door. No man cometh unto the Father but by me."

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

Not on view See artworks now on view

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on panel

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    painted surface: 119.8 x 148.5 cm (47 3/16 x 58 7/16 in.)
    overall (panel): 122.2 x 151.2 cm (48 1/8 x 59 1/2 in.)
    framed: 138.7 x 166.7 x 9.5 cm (54 5/8 x 65 5/8 x 3 3/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1959.9.3

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

A church in Bruges.[1] Imbert de Mottelettes, Bruges, by 1831.[2] Jonkheer de Potter-Soenens, Ghent, by 1839.[3] Countess de Oudemard.[4] (Wildenstein and Co., New York), 1946-1949; purchased June 1949 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[5] gift 1959 by exchange to NGA.
[1] According to J.D. Passavant, Kunstreise durch England und Belgien (Frankfurt-am-Main, 1833), 349.
[2] Passavant saw the picture on his journey through England and Belgium in 1831.
[3] F.A. Spyers, "Beschryving van twee merkwaerdige Schilderyen uit de School der Gebroeders Van Eyck," Belgisch Museum voor der Nederduitsche Tael- en Letterkunde en de Geschiedenis des Vaderlands (Ghent, 1839), 188. Shortly after entering the De Potter-Soenens collection, the picture was cleaned and disfiguring overpaint, which had caused Passavant to consider it a pre-Eyckian tempera painting, was removed; see J.D. Passavant, "Beiträge zur Kenntniss der altniederländischen Malerschulen bis zur Mitte des sechzehnten Jahrhunderts," Kunst-Blatt 55 (1843), 230, and Georg Kasper Nagler, Die Monogrammisten, 5 vols. (Munich and Leipzig, 1858), I: I, no. 1. The first of these references was offered by Lorne Campbell.
[4] According to William E. Suida, Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1945-1951, Washington, D.C., 1951: 168, no. 74.
[5] The Wildenstein invoice to the Kress Foundation for 16 items, including this painting, is dated 23 June 1949 (copy in NGA curatorial files, see also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/1377). The painting is described as "Madonna and Child with saints" by Master of Flemalle.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1951

  • Twenty Five Paintings from the Collection of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, 1951-1953, no. 15, as by studio of the Master of Flémalle.

1993

  • Stefan Lochner: Meister zu Köln, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne, 1993-1994, no. 19, repro.

2008

  • The Master of Flémalle and Rogier van der Weyden, Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie, Frankfurt; Kulturforum, Berlin, 2008-2009, no. 12, repro.

Bibliography

1833

  • "Nachrichten über die alt-niederländische Malerschule." Kunst-Blatt 81 (1833): 321.

  • Passavant, J. D. Kunstreise durch England und Belgien. Frankfurt-am-Main, 1833: 348.

1839

  • Spyers, F. A. "Beschryving van twee ... Schilderyen uit de School der ... Van Eyck." Belgisch Museum voor der Nederduitsche Tael- en Letterkunde en de Geschiedenis des Vaderlands. Ghent, (1839): 3:182-189, repro. opp. 183.

1843

  • Passavant, J. D. "Beiträge zur Kenntniss der altniederländischen Malerschulen bis zur Mitte des sechzehnten Jahrhunderts." Kunst-Blatt 55 (1843): 230.

1845

  • Michiels, Alfred. Histoire de la peinture flamande et hollandaise. 4 vols. Brussels, 1845: 1:410-412.

1858

  • Nagler, Georg Kasper. Die Monogrammisten. 5 vols. Munich and Leipzig, 1858: 1:1, no. 1.

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: 168, no. 74, repro., as by Master of Flemalle Studio.

1953

  • Panofsky Erwin. Early Netherlandish Painting: Its Origins and Character. 2 vols. Cambridge, Mass., 1953: 1:425-426.

1954

  • Davies, Martin. Primitifs flamands. Corpus. The National Gallery London. 3 vols. Antwerp, 1954: 2:177, under no. 57.

1959

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 277, repro., as by Master of Flémalle and Assistants.

  • Richardson, E. P., ed. "Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, April-June 1959." The Art Quarterly 22, no. 3 (Autumn 1959): 273, 275, repro.

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: 3, 14-15, color repro.

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: 12-14, 218, color fig. 9-11.

  • Meiss, Millard. "`Highlands' in the Lowlands: Jan van Eyck, the Master of Flémalle and the Franco-Italian Tradition." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 57 (1961): 277, 310, fig 5.

1963

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 304, repro., as Master of Flémalle and Assistants.

1964

  • Koch, Robert A. "Flower Symbolism in the Portinari Altar." The Art Bulletin 46 no. 1 (March 1964): 75.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 85, as by Master of Flémalle and Assistants.

1966

  • Frinta, Mojmír S. The Genius of Robert Campin. The Hague, 1966: 118, 120-121, fig. 72-73.

  • Stange, Alfred. "Vier südflandrische Marientafeln. Ein Beitrag zur Genese der niederländischen Malerei." Alte und moderne Kunst 11, no. 89 (1966): 19, fig. 21.

1967

  • Van Gelder, J. G. "An early Work by Robert Campin." Oud Holland 82 (1967): 3-4.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 75, repro., as by Master of Flémalle and Assistants.

1971

  • Vos, Dirk de. "De Madonna-en-Kindtypologie bij Rogier van der Weyden." Jahrbuch der königlich Preussischen Kunstsammlungen (Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen) 13 (1971): 71, 74-80, 92, 97, 154, 156, 158, fig. 11.

  • Sterling, Charles. "Observations on Petrus Christus." The Art Bulletin 53 (1971): 5.

  • Ward, John L. "A Proposed Reconstruction of an Altarpiece by Roger van der Weyden." The Art Bulletin 53, no. 1 (March 1971): 32-33, fig 9.

1972

  • Davies, Martin. Rogier van der Weyden. London, 1972: 261.

  • Kerber, Ottmar. "Die Hubertus-Tafeln von Rogier van der Weyden." Pantheon 30 (1972): 299.

1974

  • Bruyn, Josua. Review of Rogier van der Weyden by Martin Davies. The Burlington Magazine 116 (1974): 540.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 220, repro.

  • Verdier, Philippe. "La Trinité debout de Champmol." In Etudes d'art français offertes à Charles Sterling. Paris, 1975: 85.

1977

  • Eisler, Colin. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools Excluding Italian. Oxford, 1977: 46-50, fig. 47, color repro.

  • Eisler, Colin. Review of Petrus Christus by Peter H. Schabacker. In Art Bulletin 59 (1977): 141.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 125, no. 113, color repro., as by Master of Flémalle and Assistants.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 71, repro.

1986

  • Hand, John Oliver and Martha Wolff. Early Netherlandish Painting. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, 1986: 35-40, color repro. 37.

1992

  • National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 37, 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.

2012

  • Amsler, Mark. Affective Literacies: Writing and Multilingualism in the Late Middle Ages. Turnhout, 2012: color plate 4.

Wikidata ID

Q20173604

You may be interested in

Loading Results