![The Saint Anne Altarpiece: Saint Anne with the Virgin and Child [middle panel] by Gerard David and Workshop](https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Redirect/file/Gerard_David_and_Workshop%2C_The_Saint_Anne_Altarpiece_-_Saint_Nicholas_(left_panel)%2C_c._1500-1520%2C_NGA_1154.jpg&width=1200)
The Saint Anne Altarpiece: Saint Anne with the Virgin and Child [middle panel]
Gerard David and Workshop·c. 1500/1520
Historical Context
The central panel of Gerard David's Saint Anne Altarpiece depicts Saint Anne with the Virgin and Child, a subject known as the "Anna Selbdritt" that was popular in Northern European devotion. The veneration of Saint Anne, mother of the Virgin Mary, reached its peak in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. David's treatment of this generational family group combines the tranquil devotional mood characteristic of Bruges painting with his distinctive warm coloring.
Technical Analysis
David's oil-on-panel technique achieves luminous, warmly colored surfaces through careful layering of transparent glazes. The serene composition and tender expressions of the three generations demonstrate his mastery of devotional imagery in the tradition of Memling and the Bruges school.
Provenance
Cardinal Antonio Despuig y Dameto [d. 1813], Raxa, Palma de Mallorca; by descent to Counts of Montenegro, Raxa, Palma de Mallorca.[1] Leon de Somzée, Brussels, by 1899.[2] Gaston de Somzée, Brussels;[3] purchased May 1902 through (Charles Fairfax Murray) by (Agnew & Sons, London); sold January 1906 to (Sedelmeyer Gallery, Paris).[4] (Eugene Fischhof, Paris and New York); sold April 1907 to Peter A. B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania;[5] inheritance from Estate of Peter A. B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; gift 1942 to NGA. [1] The first mention of the painting is Joaquín María Bover, _Noticia Histórica-Artística de los Museos del Eminetísimo Señor Cardinal Despuig Existentes en Mallorca_ (Palma, 1845), 178, no. 152, 194, no. 207, and 195, no. 216. See also Darl Justi, "Altflandrische Bilder in Spanien und Portugal," _Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte_ 21 (1886), 137-138. For the life of Cardinal Despuig, see Luis Ripoll, _Raxa y el Cardinal Despuig_ (Palma de Mallorca, 1954), 8-15, and Jaime Salva, _El Cardinal Despuig_ (Palma de Mallorca, 1964). [2] _Exhibition of Pictures by Masters of the Flemish and British Schools including a Selection from the Works of Sir Peter Paul Rubens_ (London, The New Gallery, 1899-1900), no. 52. [3] _Exposition des Primitifs flamands et d'art ancien_ (Bruges, Hôtel de Gouvernement Provincial, 1902), no. 125, lists C. and G. de Somzée, but Sedelmeyer Gallery, _Illustrated Catalogue of the Tenth Series of 100 Paintings by Old Masters_ (Paris, 1906), 9, lists Gaston de Somzée. [4] Agnew's Picture Stock Book no. 9, pp 256-7 and no. 10, pp. 24-25, National Gallery London Reference no. NGA 27/1/1/9-10 (copies NGA curatorial files). [5] Unpublished document from the Widener papers in the NGA curatorial files that appears to be a copy of a receipt of 1 April 1907; the transaction was part purchase, part exchange, with Fischhof receiving an _Assumption of the Virgin_ by Murillo. Fischhof is not mentioned in the provenance given in _Catalogue of Paintings forming the Private Collection of P.A.B. Widener_ (Ashbourne, Pennsylvania, 1908), 155.
![The Saint Anne Altarpiece: Saint Nicholas [left panel] by Gerard David and Workshop](https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Redirect/file/Gerard_David_and_Workshop%2C_The_Saint_Anne_Altarpiece_-_Saint_Nicholas_(left_panel)%2C_c._1500-1520%2C_NGA_1154.jpg&width=600)
