Flemish school, ca. 1520. Attributed to the MASTER OF HALF FIGURES (active in the second quarter of the 16th century).
"Virgin and Child.
Oil on panel.
Measurements: 56 x 39 cm; 82,5 x 65,5 cm (frame).
We show here a Marian representation resolved with great exquisiteness, as it was typical of the painting of Flemish tradition of the Renaissance period. More specifically, the virginal model corresponds to that developed by the "Master of the Half-Figures", the name given to the author of a type of painting in which the women (normally biblical characters or young women with lutes and other musical instruments) have a series of characteristic features: facial oval framed by a transparent gauze, small mouth and half-closed eyelids, extreme delicacy in the features, filleted cloaks with golden trimmings... All this coincides in this devotional work, in addition to the half-length framing that gives the Flemish Master his name. The skilful use of glazes to define the transparencies and give velvety qualities to the tunic, and to make the ringlets of her hair shine silky and shiny, is particularly noteworthy. The foreshortened body of the Child Jesus rests on draped cloths with deep folds between whose meanders the lights play with the shadows. Intense reds, almost siennae, dialogue with satiny cerulean blues. The flesh tones take on the delicacy of porcelain. See the triptych of the Annunciation by the Master of the Half-Figures in the Museo del Prado, where the Virgin has the same attributes, as do the other women depicted, given that the Master formulated an archetype that he replicated with variations in different contexts.
An anonymous painter active in the second quarter of the 16th century, the Master of the Half-Figures is named after a large collection of paintings with a similar composition: a half-length female figure in a bourgeois interior, reading, writing or playing an instrument. These ladies show great similarities in their faces, which emphasises the fact that they are portraits. It could be that the same model was used in all the compositions, or that the same stereotypical ideal was repeated. Historians have successively linked him to Lucas de Heere, Hans Vereycke and the French artist Jean Clouet, although his identity is still disputed. It has also been suggested that the series of female half-figures may have been made in a workshop in Antwerp for export. On the other hand, religious scenes have also been attributed to the artist, particularly Maternities which, like the present work, reveal a language that reveals the influence of the Bruges school through the gentleness of the models, particularly Adriaen Isenbrandt and Ambrosius Bensos.
His work has also been associated with the French-influenced courts of Mechelen and Brussels. His works are now in the Museo del Prado, the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, the National Gallery in London and other important collections.