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Lot Essay
Although no panels by him are known, the Dijon Master seems to have been Flemish and active at the turn of the sixteenth century. In a letter dated April 12, 1938 to W.G. Constable, the former curator of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Max Friedlnder connected the present work with a virtually identical composition (with only minor changes to the Virgin's costume) also painted in tempera on linen and of similar dimensions (13 x 166in.) now in the Muse des Beaux-Arts, Dijon. The anonymous master of that work was subsequently christened the Master of the Dijon Madonna by Diane Wolfthal (op. cit. p. 56). Friedlnder mentioned two other variants (with Bonjeau, Paris, in 1912; and sale Mercier, Paris, 1906 as cole Franaise XVe) and Wolfthal catalogued five versions and two variants (ibid, nos. 31-5, figs. 91-5 and 96-7 respectively).
Paintings of tempera on canvas were introduced at this time as inexpensive substitutes for panel paintings. Known as tchlein paintings, very few survive today because of their fragile nature. The technique involved the use of a glue-based medium for painting on a very fine, often unprimed canvas. The resulting surface, often executed with exquisite delicacy, was then free of the glare or reflective qualities of oil paintings and would have been visible from all vantage points.
Paintings of tempera on canvas were introduced at this time as inexpensive substitutes for panel paintings. Known as tchlein paintings, very few survive today because of their fragile nature. The technique involved the use of a glue-based medium for painting on a very fine, often unprimed canvas. The resulting surface, often executed with exquisite delicacy, was then free of the glare or reflective qualities of oil paintings and would have been visible from all vantage points.