The National Gallery in London has acquired a fascinating and mysterious early sixteenth-century Northern Renaissance altarpiece that has not been exhibited since 1960. The painting is of outstanding importance even though its authorship is unknown – even whether the painter was Netherlandish or French is up for debate.

Dating from about 1510, The Virgin and Child with Saints Louis and Margaret was acquired from a private collection at a special price of £16.4 million. It will go on display from 10 May as part of C C Land: The Wonder of Art, the Gallery’s biggest and most ambitious rehang of its collection displays and the opening of the newly transformed Sainsbury Wing.

The Painting

Enthroned in the middle of an open-air chapel, the Virgin and Child are flanked by two music-making angels, the holy king of France Saint Louis, and Saint Margaret. Sumptuously dressed, she rises unharmed from the broken shell of the dragon that swallowed her. Of the two angels, one plays a mouth harp while the other holds a song book, inscribed with an identifiable Marian hymn, Ave Regina Caelorum, Mater regis angelorum. (Hail, Queen of Heaven, Hail, Lady of Angels.) The musical notation, however, is fanciful.

The painting is full of wildly inventive details. Some are somber, such as the bare wooden steps and nail heads that foretell Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross. Others are unusual, such as the mouth harp played by the angel at left, a sound hardly associated with celestial harmony. Others still are humorous, such as the unruly child showing us his behind on the top right capital.

The Artist’s Identity

The identity of the artist responsible for this impressive panel is a mystery. The overall sense of plasticity, monumentality, and the strong shadows recall the work of French painters like Jean Hey (ca. 1475-1505). On the other hand, the composition and versatile execution – alternating smoothly painted areas and minute details with more dynamic passages – pay homage to the Netherlandish tradition of Jan van Eyck (1390-1441) and Hugo van der Goes (1440-1482). The Netherlandish hypothesis is supported by the painting’s Baltic oak panel, since French artists tended to use locally sourced oak.

Stylistic parallels can be found with the early work of Jan Gossaert (1478-1532). The dramatically foreshortened faces of the saints and angels are reminiscent of some of his early drawings, for instance the left saint of The Holy Family with Saints (ca. 1510-1505). The treatment of the brocade and metalwork compares well with passages from Gossaert’s Adoration of the Kings. Both artists also used similar underdrawing techniques, especially the way of sketching the ocular cavities, the knuckles, the shading of the Virgin’s forehead, and the absence of wash. The eccentricity that pervades the panel also recalls Gossaert’s manner.

Provenance of The Panel

Examination of the panel via dendrochronology indicates that the painting was executed after 1483. On the other hand, the design of the chain of the Order of Saint Michael worn by Saint Louis, with its double knots was modified by Francis I in 1516, implying that the picture was painted before that year. A dating of about 1510 seems appropriate on stylistic grounds.

The painting was first documented in 1602 in the urban priory of the Premonstratensian Abbey of Drongen (Tronchiennes) in Ghent, when the figures of Saints Louis and Margaret were drawn by the painter Antonio de Succa on the mistaken assumption that they were royal portraits. Whether the priory was the painting’s original location is unknown, but the choice of saints would not be inappropriate. The Premonstratensians had particular reverence for Saint Louis because he had granted them the right to bear the fleur-de-lis in their coat-of-arms. In 1608, the monks consecrated an altar devoted to the Virgin and Saint Margaret at the Ghent priory, perhaps reflecting pre-existing devotional interests. The swan, which appears among the grotesque ornaments on the right pilaster, was the main feature of the monastery’s arms.