Circle of Bernard van Orley

Private collection, Europe, by the beginning of the 19th century;

Thence by descent until sold ("Property from a Noble European Collection"), London, Christie's, 7 December 2018, lot 104;

Where acquired.

The Virgin and Child by the Circle of Bernaert van Orley reflects the continued influence of early 16th-century Netherlandish devotional painting associated with Van Orley’s workshop and followers. The tender interaction between the Virgin and the Christ Child, emphasized through soft modeling and intimate scale, underscores the work’s function as an object of private devotion. The delicate handling of flesh tones, the Virgin’s downcast gaze, and the inclusion of the open book, an allusion to scripture and contemplative reading, are motifs closely aligned with Van Orley’s refined synthesis of Netherlandish tradition and Italian Renaissance ideals.