The subject paraphrases the description of the Woman of the Apocalypse in Revelations 12:1: “A woman adorned with the sun, standing on the moon with twelve stars on her head for a crown." The sumptuous, if archaic, gold background refers to the celestial radiance of the sun. Two angels hold a crown above Mary's head, signifying her position as Queen of Heaven. The crescent moon (chastity), the white rose (purity) and her costume all allude to the Immaculate Conception, the doctrine that Mary was conceived without Original Sin. Gerard David based his image of Mary of the Heavens on a lost Deipara Virgo (Virgin Immaculate) painting by the Flemish master Hugo van der Goes, but infuses his composition with generous, atmospheric lighting and sfumato, balanced modeling, delicate coloring, and a refined, draftsman-like quality of the faces, all of which are characteristic of his late style. Technical analysis has revealed that David sketched a highly finished underdrawing on the panel before he undertook the painting of the composition.
In Bruges, by the second half of the fifteenth century, the theme of the Immaculate Conception was increasingly popular, especially after 1476, when Pope Sixtus IV decreed it a feast day on the church calendar, promising indulgences to anyone who prayed to the image. David fortifies the idea of the Immaculate Mary as intercessor by depicting her in a heavenly zone above four supplicants. The artist’s gift as a portraitist is admirably realized here in these four male figures, which have variously been identified as prophets, the four Doctors of the Church or the four Evangelists. All are undoubtedly based on portraits of living men. The young man on the left may well depict John the Evangelist, who is generally credited with being the author of Revelations.
Details
- Artist Name: Gerard David (Netherlandish, c.1460-1523)
- Title: The Coronation of the Virgin
- Date: c. 1515
- Medium: Oil on panel
- Dimensions: 27-7/8 x 21-1/4 in. (70.8 x 54 cm)
- Credit Line: The Norton Simon Foundation
- Accession Number: F.1965.1.017.P
- Copyright: © The Norton Simon Foundation
Object Information
Count Santa Maria, Madrid, sold 17 January 1936 (through Allen Loebl) to;
[Duveen Brothers, Inc. (stock nos. 30108, 29697, 29844), New York, sold 1965 to];
The Norton Simon Foundation.
Loan to the Permanent Collection, The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967-01-10 to 1969-09-23
Masterpieces of Art from European and American Collections
- Detroit Institute of Arts, 1941-04-01 to 1941-05-31
An Exhibition of Flemish Paintings of the Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries
- New York, Duveen Galleries, 1946 to
Gerard David
- Groeningemuseum, 1949-06 to 1949-08
Holbein and his Contemporaries
- Indianapolis, John Herron Art Museum, 1950-10-22 to 1950-12-24
Flemish Art 1300-1700
- London, Royal Academy, 1953 to 1954
Flandres, Espagne, Portugal du XVe au XVIIe siècle
- Galerie des beaux-arts de Bordeaux, 1954-05-19 to 1954-07-31
15th-16th-17th Century Flemish Masters
- London, Canada, University of Western Ontario, McIntosh Memorial Gallery, 1957-03 to 1957-04
Masterworks of Flemish and Related Art. Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture
- New York, Duveen Art Galleries, 1964-02 to 1964-04
Long-Term Loan to the Museo del Prado
- Museo Nacional del Prado, to
Le Siècle des Primitifs Flamands
- Groeningemuseum, 1960-06 to 1960-09
[on loan]
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1969-09-24 to 1972-09-13
Flanders in the 15th Century: Art and Civilization
- Detroit Institute of Arts, 1960-10 to 1960-12
Flemish Primitives. Exhibition Organized by the Belgian Government Through the Belgian Information Center, New York
- New York, M. Knoedler and Co., 1942-04-13 to 1942-05-09
The Universe: Creation, Constellations and the Cosmos
- Norton Simon Museum, 2001-02-04 to 2001-06-04
Masterpieces of Five Centuries, Forty-Eight Paintings and Sculptures from the Norton Simon Foundation and the Norton Simon, Inc. Museum
- Houston, Museum of Fine Arts, 1972-10-04 to 1973-11-04
Lock, Stock and Barrel: Norton Simon's Purchase of Duveen Brothers Gallery
- Norton Simon Museum, 2014-10-24 to 2015-02-16
- Douglas, R. Langton, Art in America, pp. 161, 163
- Fahy, Everett, Apollo, p. 192
- Friedländer, Max J., Early Netherlandish Painting, pl. 252 p. 112
- Sutton, Denys, Apollo, no. 10 pp. 40-41
- Duveen Galleries, New York, An Exhibition of Flemish Paintings of the Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries, no. 3
- Destrée, J., Compte rendu Ve Congres International des Science Historiques, Bruxelles 1923, 1923, pp. 356, 360
- Destrée, J., Academie Royale des Sciences des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels. Classe des Beaux-Arts. Bulletin, 1926, p. 26-37
- Friedlander, Max J., Die Altniederländische Malerie, 1937, p. 106
- Richardson, E. P., Masterpieces of Art from European and American Collections, 1941, no. 15 p. 6
- Phillipart, Georges, Flemish Primitive, 1942, no. 19
- Van Gelder, J. G., The Burlinton Magazine, 1949, p. 253-254
- Parks, R. O., Holbein and his Contemporaries, 1950, no. 20
- Brockwell, M., Flemish Art 1300-1700, 1953, no. 125
- Martin-Mery, G., Flandres, Espagne, Portugal du XVe au XVIIe siècle, 1954, no. 24
- Chaban-Delmas, J., Visages du Monde, 1954, p. 5
- Marlier, G., Ambrosius Benson et la peinture à Bruges au temps de Charles Quint, 1957, p. 181
- Le Siècle des Primitifs Flammands, 1960, no. 60
- Flanders in the Fifteenth Century: Art and Civilization, 1960, no. 48 pp. 189-191
- Duveen Brothers, Inc., Masterworks of Flemish and Related Art, Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, 1964, no. 4
- Morse, John D., Old Master Paintings in North America, 1979, pp. 90-91
- Norton Simon Museum, Selected Paintings at the Norton Simon Museum, 1980, p. 33
- Ainsworth, Maryan W., Master Drawings, 1989, no. 38, figs. 20-22 p. 22, 23, 25
- Van Miegroet, Hans, Gerard David, 1989, no. 41, col. pls. 248, 251-253 pp. 256, 259, 265, 306, notes, 80, 91-2
- Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum, 1989, p. 24
- Van Miegroet, Hans, Flemish Paintings in America: A Survey of Early Flemish and Netherlandish Paintings in the Public Collections of North America, 1992, fig. 23 pp. 94-95
- Ainsworth, Maryan W., Dessin sous jacent et practique d'atelier (Colloque 9), 1993, figs. 5-7 p. 20
- Richardson, E., Artnews, 2004, p. 18
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. D13 p. 442
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