The Virgin in an Apse

Artist Copy after Robert Campin (Flemish, ca. 1375/1379-1444)

Place of OriginFlanders

Dateabout 1490-1520

Dimensions19 3/8 × 14 in. (49.2 × 35.6 cm)
Framed: 23 1/4 × 18 1/4 in. (59.1 × 46.4 cm)

MediumOil on wood panel

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1954.60

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 16

Label TextDuring the 1400s and 1500s in Europe, Christian devotion to the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ, stimulated the creation of images like Virgin and Child in an Apse. The motif of Mary suckling the Christ child derives from a Byzantine icon type, while the music-making angels allude to many contemporary songs that praised her. The Museum’s painting is one of more than 60 surviving copies after a lost original by Robert Campin, one of the founders of the Flemish school of painting. Its scale suggests that it was intended for use in private worship. The panel was recently restored and now displays its original vivid colors. The vases of flowers, as well as the delightful frog and rabbit, may be additions made at a later date. The rabbit, as a common symbol of lust, perhaps symbolizes the Virgin’s victory over the sins of the flesh.Published ReferencesFriedländer, M.J., Die Altniederländische Malerei, Leyden, 1924, II, no. 74i.

Frinta, M., The Genius of Robert Campin, The Hague, 1966, p. 115, n. 4.

Friedländer, M.J., Early Netherlandish Painting, (ed. H. Pauwels), New York, 1967, II, no. 74i.

Davies, M., National Gallery Catalogues: Early Netherlandish School, 3rd ed., London, 1968, p. 29, n. 3.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, p. 33, pl. 78.

Gorney, Michaelene, "Musical insturments: strings," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 20, no. 4, 1978, p. 93, repr. fig. 3, (det.).

Osano, Shigetoshi, "Rogier van der Weyden e l'Italia: problemi, riflessioni e ipotesi (II)," Antichta Viva, Anno XX, n. 5, 1981, p. 14, n. 29.

Ainsworth, Maryan W., "The Virgin and Child in an Apse: Reconsidering a Campin Workshop Design," in Robert Campin: New Directions in Scholarship, Turnhout, 1996, p. 153, fig. 4.

Exhibition HistoryAlbion (MI), Albion College, Christmas Exhibition, 1954.

Louisville, Jounior Art Gallery, Christmas Exhibition, 1957.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Unseen Art of TMA: What's in the Vaults and Why?, September 12, 2004-January 2, 2005. (no catalogue or checklist)