The support consists of two vertically grained oak panels (27.3/27.2 and 27/27.4 cm), 0.5-0.6 cm thick. Three horizontal battens were attached to the reverse, and were later removed and replaced by squared inserts across the join. The left and right sides of the reverse are bevelled. Dendrochronology has shown that the youngest heartwood ring was formed in 1511. The panel could have been ready for use by 1522, but a date in or after 1536 is more likely. While the ground and intermediate layer extend to all edges, there are unpainted edges 0.8 cm wide at top and bottom. The lower part of the left edge is also unpainted (painted surface: 62.6 x 53.5 cm). Microscopic analysis of the paint sample shows that the ground is covered with a peach-coloured priming. Infrared reflectography revealed a summary underdrawing in a wet medium applied with the brush in the draperies and elsewhere. The method can best be seen in the blue drapery under Christ’s feet and in Joseph’s sleeve, which was drawn lower down, encroaching on the white garment on the Virgin’s shoulder. Infrared reflectography suggests that the Child’s left hand was not planned in its present position, for it overlaps the Virgin’s shoulder. The Virgin’s robe was extended here, and there are several other slight changes in the contours. The painting method is direct, with a simple build-up of opaque layers and glazes. Delicate and feathery wet-in-wet brushwork was used for some areas of the finished surface, similar to the technique employed for the companion panel with De la Marck’s portrait (SK-A-4069). The white sleeve at the Virgin’s right (proper left) shoulder consists of a blended scumble of grey carefully worked up with wet streaks over white. Cross-section analysis confirmed that the triangle of green fabric at centre left was executed with identical paint layers and layer structure as the curtain held aloft by the angels in the companion panel. Gold leaf was applied on a whitish mordant for the red carnation; the centre of the flower is gilded and has a red glaze on top.

Spronk and Metzger in Washington etc. 2006, pp. 299-300; Bagley-Young 2008; Wallert et al. 2009

Fair. Like the Portrait of Erard de la Marck (SK-A-4069), the painting has been deliberately damaged. Scratches were made in the Child’s body, and his genitals were partially removed. There are some smaller losses, areas of abrasion and slightly raised paint. The fabric around the Child’s body, which was painted with a copper green glaze, has turned brown. However, the green drapery on the left side of the composition appears less discoloured than the curtain in the background of the De la Marck painting. Fading is evident in the red lake used to paint the Virgin’s clothing. The azurite of her blue robe has darkened.

…; ? estate inventory, Archduchess Margaret of Austria (1480-1530), 1524-30 (‘Ung tableau, paint d’ung cousté d’une Nostre-Dame et de l’autre du cardinal de Liège, fermant à deux fuilletz.’);¹¹Transcribed by Kreyczi, no. 2979 in Zimerman/Kreyczi 1885, p. CXXI, no. 958. …; dealer, Edward Speelman, London 1937:²²Photo RKD. …; dealer, P. Cassirer, Amsterdam, 1938;³³Wescher 1938, p. 229; archive SNK, nos. 179, 433, 862; photo RKD. ? exhibited by the dealer J.A. Bier, Haarlem;⁴⁴Photo RKD. …; from the dealer P. Cassirer to the dealer W.A. Hofer, Berlin, 25 November 1940;⁵⁵Archive SNK, nos. 170, 433, 862; photo RKD; Friedländer 1942, p. 20. …; from Helmuth Roehnert, Berlin, to Hermann Göring, Berchtesgaden, 12 January 1941;⁶⁶Archive SNK, nos. 179, 243, 433. transferred to the collecting point, Munich, 1946;⁷⁷Archive SNK, no. 433. transferred to the Rijksschuilkelder, Zandvoort, 12 March 1946;⁸⁸Transport VIII, Archive SNK, no. 433. collection SNK, The Hague, no. 528, since 1946;⁹⁹Archive SNK. collection DRVK, The Hague, since 1952; collection RBK, The Hague, no. NK2596, since 1984; collection ICN, Rijswijk, 1997; from which institution on loan to the Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, since 1948

Object number: SK-C-1701

Credit line: On loan from the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, Amersfoort

See the entry on SK-A-4069.

Friedländer XIV, 1937, p. 130; Wescher 1938, p. 228; Hoogewerff IV, 1941-42, pp. 279-82 (as c. 1545); Friedländer 1942, pp. 20-22; Utrecht 1955, no. 94; Haak 1963, pp. 18-19; ENP XII, 1975, pp. 132, 141, no. supp. 417 (as c. 1525-30); Bruyn 1984, pp. 1-3; Horn 1989, I, pp. 5-6, 9-10; Van den Boogert in Utrecht-’s-Hertogenbosch 1993, p. 322, nos. 220-21; Eichberger 2002, pp. 203, 379-80; Torringa in coll. cat. Haarlem 2006, pp. 620-21, no. 463; Hand in Washington etc. 2006, pp. 236-39, 299-300, no. 35; Hendrikman 2007; Bagley-Young 2008