Terms and conditions of use
Mother and child
1624
- Medium
- oil on wood panel
- Measurements
- 123.4 × 92.8 cm
- Inscription
- inscribed in brown paint u.l.: ATATIS SvA. 24 ~ / ANNO. 1624 ~
- Accession Number
- 2009.2
- Department
- International Painting
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased with funds donated by Alan and Mavourneen Cowen, Andrew Sisson, an anonymous donor and donors to the Cornelis de Vos Appeal, 2009
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited - Gallery location
- 17th Century & Flemish Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International - About this work
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As a young man, Cornelis de Vos worked with the most important Flemish artists of his time, Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck and Jacob Jordaens, and he quickly absorbed many of their innovative qualities. So precocious was his talent that by the age of twenty, de Vos had mastered formal portraiture. Van Dyck went to England around 1620, and Rubens was often away from Antwerp. In their absence, de Vos assumed the mantle of the most prominent portrait painter in that city. This work of 1624 has the vigour and accomplishment of a mature artist at the height of his powers. Here de Vos has sensitively captured the informality in the relationship between the mother and her child; this refreshingly modern approach is regarded as the particular achievement of Flemish artists. De Vos’s clientele were the wealthiest burghers of Antwerp, who eagerly sought portraits of their family members. At this time of religious conflict, Antwerp remained a staunchly Catholic city, and the richness of the dress and the prominence of the crucifix on the mother’s chest attest to this. The picture offers a fascinating contrast to the fine Dutch portrait of a woman from the 1640s, which is distinguished for its austerity.
Frame: Reproduction, 2010, based on early 17th century Netherlandish frames
- Subjects (general)
- Human Figures Portraits Relationships and Interactions
- Subjects (specific)
- cherries (fruits) children (people by age group) family portraits gloves lace (needlework) maternity mothers ruffs
- Movements
- Baroque
- Frame
- Reproduction, 2010, based on early 17th century Netherlandish frames
Frame
-
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The re-framing of de Vos, Mother and child, 1624, was associated with the purchase of the painting in 2009.
The painting came with an ornate gilded frame of unknown date but in the manner of a Louis XIV revival frame.
The proposal was to source a seventeenth century Flemish frame for the painting.
Research centred around the use of either an ebonised frame or a parcel gilt, black painted box frame. Varying opinions about the suitability of these divergent styles were expressed by frame historians. The final assessment was made by fitting a version of each frame to the painting to see which worked best with the artwork. The decision was to present the painting in the parcel gilt, painted box frame.
The frame was made in London and fitted to the painting in 2010. - Framemaker
- Reproduction - commissioned by the NGV
- Date
- 2010
- Materials
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oak, gold leaf, distemper paint.