The Virgin and Child

The composition would appear to derive from the Virgin and Child in the Collections Municipales, Caen (see M.J. Friedländer, Early Netherlandish Painting, II, Leiden, 1967, pp. 23-4 and 66, no. 31, pl. 52). The Caen picture is no longer generally accepted as by Rogier himself, but depends directly on his depictions of half-length representations of the Virgin and Child, her breast partially covered by the white mantle draped over her head. Certain elements of the present composition, however, would appear to derive from Northern Netherlandish tradition: for example the unusual pose of the hands of the Virgin, or the direction of the Child's gaze, looking out of the picture, which comes from the circle of Bouts (ibid., III, Leiden, 1968, nos. 11 or 15). Given the diverse sources for this picture, it is interesting to note that the features of both figures recall the hand of Simon Marmion (for example the Virgin and Child in the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne), perhaps suggesting a French origin.