Beskrivning: Se även beskrivning i den engelska versionen

Catalogue raisonné: Description in Flemish paintings C. 1600-C. 1800 III, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2010, cat.no. 95: 
 
Technical notes: The painting’s original support,
two similar pieces of fine to medium-weight, tightly
woven, plain weave, single-threaded fabric, sewn together
with a horizontal seam c. 26.0/28.4 cm from the top
edge, has been lined. The tacking edges of the original
fabric support have been cropped, and the painting is
attached to a non-original stretcher at the tacking edges
of the lining fabric. The texture of the canvas is apparent
in the surface of the image, its appearance emphasized as
a result of the lining process. The evidence of shallow
cusping along all edges but the top indicates that the
painting approximates its original dimensions, but was
once slightly taller.

The support was prepared with a moderately thick,
light beige ground, intended to hide the texture of the
fabric support. Infrared reflectography partially revealed
dark underdrawing in a dry medium, black chalk or charcoal,
in several areas, mainly along the contours of the
figures: in the drapery over Mary’s left shoulder, the contours
of her eyes, of the St. John’s chin, the Christ
Child’s belly and right hand, in St. Elisabeth’s headdress
on the left side. Mary’s left ear was underdrawn in a dif-
ferent position, to the right of that shown in the
painting.

Paint was applied thickly in mostly opaque layers, with
vigorous brushwork and strong impastos in the whites,
such as the pillow on which the Christ Child is resting
and the cloth next to it, as well as in the smoothly blended
pale, pinkish white flesh tones of Mary, Christ, the
Baptist and the putto, applied over a cool light grey
underpaint that functions as a middle tone in the shaded
areas. The areas of the flesh tones now display a fine
localized craquelure. Frequent slight pentimenti occur in
the form of contour adjustments made during the painting
process, as in the right contour of the putto’s buttocks
and thigh, the buttocks of the Christ Child, the
lower back and buttocks of the St. John and the upper
contour of Mary’s right hand supporting her breast. The
final contours were then, partially, reinforced using a fine
brush and reddish brown paint. Thick impastos and
scumbling in white, yellow, brown or grey were used to
paint the blond curls of Christ and St. John and St.
Joseph’s grey hair and beard, creating texture by scratching
individual curls into the wet paint probably using the
brush handle. This was also used to create the fine
lozenge pattern scratched into the wet paint of the folds
of Mary’s blue mantle draped over her left shoulder.
The painting is in good condition. Abrasion is moderate
overall. A layer of slightly discoloured old varnish is
present. The painting has been flattened through the lining
process. Retouching covers losses of ground- and
paint layers along the edges, the horizontal seam, a
repaired short vertical scratch at the lower left and an
area of large circular damage in the curtain swag at the
top. There are large retouches in Joseph’s robe, Mary’s
blue mantle, just below her left hand, in the putto’s
wings, as well as scattered small retouches in the sky, the
curtain swag at top centre and the foreground soil. The
painting underwent conservation treatment in 1930.

Provenance: Coll. de Villeroud, 18th century; Coll. M.
Roëhn 1836; Marquis de Gouvello 1869; Coll. Prosper
Crabbe; auction Galérie Sedelmeyer, June 1890; Sold at
Hôtel Drout april 1910; bequeathed by Christina Nilsson
in 1930.

Exhibited: Stockholm 1977, no. 82; Stockholm 2010,
no. 67.

Bibliography: Sjöblom 1930–1931, pp. 52–58, 100;
NM Cat. 1958, p. 93; NM Cat. 1990, p. 171.

Maria can be seen in the centre of the painting suckling
the infant Jesus. The child lies in her lap with his
head leaning against a cushion lying against a cradle. A
small putto is helping to steady the cushion. At the
head of the cradle can be seen the infant John. He is
standing on the cradle supported by his mother, Elisabeth.
To the right Joseph’s grey head can also be seen.
Information about the earlier fate of the painting can
be found in a catalogue for the auction of Monsieur
Prosper Crabbe’s collection in the Galérie Sedelmeyer
in June 1890. At the beginning of the 18th century it
belonged to Monsieur de Villeroud, a lawyer in Louis
XV’s council. The work was inherited by other members
of his family and then by an artist named Roëhn.
The painting was auctioned with a number of certificates
of authenticity. According to a Monsieur Roux
de Cantal the painting is entirely the work of Rubens.
A statement from 1863 by the Royal French Museums’
experts at that time, Charles Paillet and Nicolas
Perignion, guarantees that the painting is the work of
Rubens and also one of his best. The painter Delacroix
said when seeing the work: “It the finest I have seen by
this great master next to the tomb in Saint-Jacques”.
The French history painter Paul Delaroche also issued
a certificate dated 1843. Today these documents are of
mere historical interest. Axel Sjöblom was one of the
first to express doubts when he compared this painting
to other madonnas painted by Rubens. However the
work does have links with similar compositions by
Rubens, The Madonna with the Parrot in the Royal
Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp1 and The Holy Family
with Saint Francis, Anne, and the Infant John the Baptist
in the Metropolitan Museum, New York.2
Ludvig Burchard who devoted thorough study to
Rubens’ pupils informed the Nationalmuseum that a
similar painting is referred to as the work of Jan van
den Hoecke by Charles Blanc.3 Several versions of the
composition are on record, among them a painting
that was owned by Duveen in London (previously the
Duke of Sutherland, Stafford House) and a preliminary
sketch (The Duke of Rutland’s collection in
Belvoir Castle).4 Versions can be found in the Kunsthistorisches
Museum, Vienna, The Holy Family under
an Apple Tree and in the Musée des Beaux Arts, Brussels,
The Virgin Mary and the Infant with Elisabeth and
the Infant John the Baptist. Yet another version is in the
Francine Clark Institute, in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
The Nationalmuseum’s painting differs from the
last of these in the presence of the third child, the
small putto.
GCB

1 Wood, 163 x 189. See Burchardt and D’Hulst 1963, pp. 125–126.
2 Canvas, 176.5 x 208.6. See Walter Liedtke, Flemish Paintings II, 1984, pl.
X, p. 10.
3 Charles Blanc, Le Trésor de la Curiosité, Paris, II, 1858, p. 92.
4 The painting was originally on panel 56 x51.5, but transferred to canvas;
Goudstikker, Amsterdam August 1933, see Burlington mag. Nov. 1933, p.
230. Sold at Larsen’s auction, New York, 6 November 1947, lot 31.[End]

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Foto: Erik Cornelius / Nationalmuseum 2010