Literature:
(possibly) Colin Eisler, Les Primitifs Flamands, New England Museums, Bruxelles
1961, pag. 60, n. 9.
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Remarks:
There is no undisputed original by Dieric Bouts known of this composition, however there are two workshop versions of very high quality. One is in the Louvre, Paris, and measures cm. 38 x 28, the other, of the same size, is in the National Gallery, London.
There are many other versions of this composition, some are attributed to Bouts’ son Aelbrecht. A complete list can be found in T. Eisler, New England Museums, Les Primitifs Flamands, Corpus de la peinture des ancien Pays-Bas méridionaux au XV siècle, 4, Bruxelles 1961, pp. 59-61. Our version might be published here as numer 9, Nettuno, Collection Steno Borghese, ex collection Don Pietro Statella. This composition can be found either alone, or in combination with a Christ crowned with thorns, and can be dated back to Bouts' Haarlem period, around 1450.
The various versions of the painting has been avidly collected. Of these known versions ours is closest to one which was formerly in the Baron van der Elst collection, then in the Spiridon collection, Paris and later in a Geneva private collection. It has similar marked shading and the same elegantly curved position of the Madonna’s fingers but has a different size (cm. 37 x 28). A very similar size to the Madonna here presented has a painting recorded in the Lutzen auction at Berlin in 1904, but we have not yet found a photograph of that work.
The painting, has a noble provenance and has an impressive, 17th century frame and bears an inscription on the back in what, to us, apears as an early seventeenth century hand. The early provenance (Il Cardinale Scipione Borghese) might be read in a faint inscription: “Nota come il Sig. Cardinal Borghese / ordinò che questa imagine deva ..ser../ sempre in casa (')”
The quality of the painting is good and shows a virtuoso handling of, f.e. the way the tears are depicted by painting only the shade shed by them and the light reflecting. The flesh tones, hands and face, and also the white veil has been preserved very well, and would greatly benefit from a cleaning. The red dots on the gold ground seem to have been added later, and in general the gold ground shows more restauration than the figure.
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