{"id":66989,"date":"2025-05-02T00:08:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T00:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/66989\/"},"modified":"2025-05-02T00:08:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T00:08:08","slug":"national-gallery-in-london-buys-work-by-unknown-artist-for-20-m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/66989\/","title":{"rendered":"National Gallery in London Buys Work by Unknown Artist for $20 M."},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tTo celebrate its bicentenary, London\u2019s National Gallery<\/a> has purchased a curious altarpiece for $20 million that it was eyeing for decades. Titled The Virgin and Child with Saints Louis and Margaret and Two Angels, the painting dates from 1500-10 \u2013 and the artist is unknown.<\/p>\n

The acquisition was funded by the American Friends of the National Gallery of London and bought from a private collection in a sale brokered by Sotheby\u2019s. The price represents a significant outlay for an unknown and unnamed artist, and reflects the quality, craftsmanship, and significance of the work.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s thought the artist was either French or Netherlandish (from the Low Countries). The Virgin and Child with Saints Louis and Margaret and Two Angels was first documented in 1602 in Belgium, when it probably served as an altarpiece in a church in Ghent.<\/p>\n

Emma Capron, curator of early Netherlandish and German paintings at the National Gallery, who is responsible for the acquisition, said in a statement that the artwork is \u201cfull of iconographical oddities.\u201d The Virgin and Child are positioned in the center of the composition, which includes two saints, two playful angels, \u201ca bawdy scene with a naughty child, and a magnificent slobbering,\u201d the National Gallery said.<\/p>\n

The dragon is particularly unique, with no other similar interpretation known to exist in Northern European art.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a rare and exciting addition to the National Gallery\u2019s superb collection of early Netherlandish paintings,\u201d Capron said. \u201cThis altarpiece is the work of a talented and highly original but unknown artist, and I hope that ongoing research and the painting\u2019s public display will help solve this conundrum in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is painted on a Baltic oak panel, which artists from the Low Countries often used, while French artists preferred local oak. However, Saint Louis is depicted in the work, representing the French king Louis IX (1214-70), and his gown is embellished with the royal fleur-de-lis associated with the French monarchy.<\/p>\n

In the past, experts have suggested that the likes of Aert Ortkens, Jean Hey, the Master of Saint Giles, Jan Gossaert, and followers of Hugo van der Goes may have painted the altarpiece.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe overall sense of plasticity, monumentality, and the strong shadows recall the work of French painters like Jean Hey,\u201d the National Gallery said. \u201cOn the other hand, the composition and versatile execution \u2013 alternating smoothly painted areas and minute details with more dynamic passages \u2013 pay homage to the Netherlandish tradition of Jan van Eyck.\u201d<\/p>\n

The painting was sold by a descendant from the family of Henry Blundell (1724-1810) and until recently was housed in Dorset on Lulworth Estate, where the related Weld family live. It\u2019s believed the work had been purchased by Blundell by 1803 from the urban priory of Drongen (Tronchiennes) in Ghent in modern Belgium, according to the National Gallery. It\u2019s speculated that it was commissioned for the priory\u2019s church.<\/p>\n

Alex Bell, Sotheby\u2019s chairman emeritus of Old Master paintings, conducted negotiations with the National Gallery for the painting\u2019s sale. \u201cWhat makes Old Masters<\/a> so great, is that you don\u2019t have to know what an artwork is to know that you are looking at something special,\u201d he told ARTnews. \u201cIn the case of this striking altarpiece, its inherent value lies in its extraordinary quality and its history \u2013 regardless of who the artist may have been. In fact, this mystery makes it all the more intriguing. It has been seen rarely over the course of the last half a century, and has until now not been reproduced anywhere in colour.\u201d<\/p>\n

The National Gallery\u2019s director, Gabriele Finaldi, told The Art Newspaper that his predecessors had been keen on the Old Master work \u201cfor decades,\u201d until it was finally bought earlier this year.<\/p>\n

He said it was \u201cvery rare\u201d to find an unattributed painting of such quality \u2013 and suggested that \u201cit might have been painted by a highly talented artist early in his career or by someone who died young.\u201d<\/p>\n

After not being exhibited publicly for 60 years, The Virgin and Child with Saints Louis and Margaret and Two Angels will go on show in the National Gallery\u2019s Room 53 on May 10. This will coincide with the opening of the museum\u2019s revamped main entrance, the Sainsbury Wing, which is part of a $100 M. refurbishment to mark the National Gallery\u2019s 200th anniversary.<\/p>\n

\t\tRelated Articles<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"A<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To celebrate its bicentenary, London\u2019s National Gallery has purchased a curious altarpiece for $20 million that it was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66990,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3939],"tags":[4021,4020,4022,77,7584,19468,33967,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-66989","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-design","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-national-gallery","13":"tag-old-masters","14":"tag-sothebys","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114435332931216487","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}