Der heilige Lukas malt die Madonna

Commissioned works, whether painting, tapestry,

or stained glass, usually required that a model

drawing be submitted for approval by the commissioning

corporation, church authorities, or civic

body. Benesch first related this drawing to Maerten

de Vos’s (1532–1603) central panel for the altarpiece

commissioned in 1585 by the Guild of Saint Luke, or

painters’ guild, of which he was an elder member,

for their chapel in the Cathedral of Our Lady in

Antwerp (fig. 1); more recent scholarship confirms

that it was, indeed, a modello for the panel.1 Quinten

Massijs the Elder’s (1465/66–1530) previous altarpiece

for the chapel was likely destroyed in the iconoclasm

of 1581.2 A commission of this importance,

which he completed one year before his death in

1603, confirms De Vos’s preeminence in the guild.3

The legend of Saint Luke painting the Virgin

and Child during a vision emerged in the seventh

century as a prevalent theme for painters’ guild

chapels and chapter houses. De Vos employed a

traditional approach to the composition, with visual

references to earlier depictions of the scene by

Antwerp masters Massijs, Jan Gossart (1478–1532),

and Rogier van der Weyden (1399/1400–1464).4

Placing Saint Luke and the Virgin and Child in the

foreground of the composition, he created a dramatic

architectural space in one-point perspective,

beginning with a square room with a tiled floor and

coffered ceiling and leading to a barrel-vaulted passage

surrounded by sculptural niches. The barrel

vault has an oculus and extends back to another

room with an opened door. Saint Luke sits before

his easel and paints with a brush, palette, and

maulstick while a young apprentice prepares paint

to his left. The saint’s attribute, a bull, sits at his

feet and is apparently tempted by the grapes held

outward by the Christ Child. A table holding a globe

and a book, representing knowledge of worldly

matters, is behind the Virgin. Further to the right,

a stairway ascends toward a man reading a book.

A chorus of putti cluster above the main scene.

The architecture references Italian models but also

public spectacle more locally, such as the ephemeral

triumphal arches De Vos devised for the joyous

entry of Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553–1595)

into Antwerp in 1594.5 Altogether, the iconography

of the image hints at the artist’s expansive role in

portraying intellectual and spiritual concepts with

consummate craftsmanship.

In the painting, De Vos individualized the saint’s

appearance and added a portrait of Abraham

Grapheus, messenger of the guild, to the face of

the studio apprentice.6 He also rotated the easel

to provide a glimpse of Saint Luke’s work and

brought the Virgin and Child forward, slightly

enlarging their scale. He eliminated the man on

the stairs, replacing him with a servant woman,

and added small figures to the far background. The

considerable changes between the Albertina sheet

and the painting indicate that the drawing was a

proposal made near the beginning of the design

process, perhaps the first to be presented to the

guild. One should expect that there was a certain

level of exchange between the artist and the guild

members on a theme with implications for the very

definition of their profession, especially given the

decades of debates regarding the role of images in

religious practice.7 In the end, De Vos’s solution was

highly decorous, emphasizing the painter’s ability

to portray both the seen and the unseen.

The drawing itself is carefully composed, with

the use of a straightedge to plot architectural elements

combined with a wavering, freehand line for

details. Few corrections are evident. De Vos’s technique

remained remarkably consistent throughout

his career and across projects in various media,

combining pen and ink with washes and white

heightening. In this case, De Vos left almost no

portion of the sheet untouched, using light washes

to tint the architecture, perhaps in anticipation of

the final treatment in paint.

 

1. See Benesch O. 1928, 24, no. 191; Zweite 1980, 235; Peeters 2005,

245; Grieten in Fabri 2009, 155.

2. Peeters 2005, 239. Grieten in Fabri 2009, 151n6, states that

there is no definitive data to identify the history or iconography

of Massijs’s altarpiece.

3. Following De Vos’s death in 1603, the year after the central

panel was completed, the side panels of the altarpiece were

likely completed by Otto van Veen (1556–1629) and Ambrosius

Francken I (1544/45–1618); see Peters 2005, 239.

4. Grieten in Fabri 2009, 149.

5. Grieten in Fabri 2009, 155.

6. Peeters 2005, 249.

7. Jonckheere 2012, 224.

 

Emily J. Peters, Laura M. Ritter (Hg.), AK Tales of the City. Drawing in the Netherlands from Bosch to Bruegel, Cleveland Museum of Art 9.10.2022 - 8.1.2023, New Haven 2022, Kat. Nr. 35