拍品专文
Paul Coecke van Aelst, the son of Pieter Coecke van Aelst — who served as court painter to Emperor Charles V — is documented in Carel van Mander’s Livre des peintres as a skillful copyist of the Flemish master Jan Gossaert. Like his father, Paul produced a great number of paintings devoted to the Virgin Mary. The exceptional quality of this Virgin and Child previously led to its attribution to Gossaert himself, but recent stylistic analysis suggests a date in the 1560s (loc. cit.). In this and other known versions of the composition, Coecke van Aelst combines figures taken from Gossaert’s model of the Virgin with the Veil (Mauritshuis, The Hague, inv. no. 830) with a diverse array of intricate details both in the still life in the foreground and the landscape beyond.
The Flight into Egypt is depicted to the left of the central figures, where Joseph can be seen leading the Virgin away from a Flemish town beneath a darkening sky. On the right side, a bronze vase with carved angels holds Mary’s attribute of white lilies, along with red and blue flowers. A pillar behind the Virgin’s left shoulder demonstrates the solidity of the Church, while the apple, pear, cherries, and plucked flowers strewn about the feet of the lively Christ child imply Original Sin and the ephemerality of life. Looking towards the viewer while playing with his mother’s veil, the infant’s smile contrasts with the Virgin’s placid expression, mother and child anticipating the pain and joy of Christ’s eventual death and resurrection.
The present painting is distinguished from other known examples of this composition by its refined, meticulous detail and the inclusion of an extensive landscape in the background, which rises from the riverbed in the left foreground, to distant peaks imaginatively integrated into the verdant Flemish scene. By including vertical landforms in a setting otherwise familiar to inhabitants of the Low Countries, Coecke van Aelst suggests an amalgamation of places near and far, combining the familiar ecosystem of Flanders — with its pollard willows and waterways — with the biblical deserts and mountains known to the Flemish through scripture. At the bottom left corner of the panel, a faded wreath may have identified a former owner, though the crest within the laurels is now illegible.
The Flight into Egypt is depicted to the left of the central figures, where Joseph can be seen leading the Virgin away from a Flemish town beneath a darkening sky. On the right side, a bronze vase with carved angels holds Mary’s attribute of white lilies, along with red and blue flowers. A pillar behind the Virgin’s left shoulder demonstrates the solidity of the Church, while the apple, pear, cherries, and plucked flowers strewn about the feet of the lively Christ child imply Original Sin and the ephemerality of life. Looking towards the viewer while playing with his mother’s veil, the infant’s smile contrasts with the Virgin’s placid expression, mother and child anticipating the pain and joy of Christ’s eventual death and resurrection.
The present painting is distinguished from other known examples of this composition by its refined, meticulous detail and the inclusion of an extensive landscape in the background, which rises from the riverbed in the left foreground, to distant peaks imaginatively integrated into the verdant Flemish scene. By including vertical landforms in a setting otherwise familiar to inhabitants of the Low Countries, Coecke van Aelst suggests an amalgamation of places near and far, combining the familiar ecosystem of Flanders — with its pollard willows and waterways — with the biblical deserts and mountains known to the Flemish through scripture. At the bottom left corner of the panel, a faded wreath may have identified a former owner, though the crest within the laurels is now illegible.