Madonna of the Cherries

Artist Quinten Metsys (Netherlandish, 1466 - 1530)

Date1520s

CultureNetherlandish

MediumOil on panel

ClassificationPaintings

ProvenanceEmile Gavet, Paris, approximately 1870s-1880s; sold to Mr. and Mrs. William K. and Alva Erskine Smith Vanderbilt, Gothic Room, Marble House, Newport, Rhode Island, 1889-1982; transfered to Mrs. Alva Erskine Smith Vanderbilt Belmont in divorce; purchased by John Ringling, 1928; bequest to The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, 1936

Credit LineBequest of John Ringling, 1936

Object numberSN200

Matsys was the first major painter of the city of Antwerp, and he remained a favorite of collectors and succeeding generations of Antwerp painters. Thought by some scholars to be a copy of one of Matsys' final compositions, the Ringling panel was likely produced in the master's workshop, perhaps under the hand of Matsys himself. This picture makes clear the predominant qualities of Matsys' latest period, including the glossy skin tones revealing an almost oily surface. The physical intimacy and fullness of the forms of the Madonna and Child represent a new Flemish adoption of Italianate forms and gestures.

On View

On view

Location