Art Institute of ChicagoPublic domain

Mater Dolorosa (Sorrowing Virgin)

Workshop of Dieric Bouts · c. 1490

Provenance

Ownership history

Williams, Paris, possibly by 1871 until 1889 [according to the catalogue of the Spiridon sale; the claim that Williams owned it in 1871, made in Brussels 1935 and Paris 1935, cannot be verified]; sold to Joseph Spiridon, Paris, 1889; sold, Cassirer and Helbing, Berlin, May 31, 1929, no. 71, as workshop of Dieric Bouts, to Baron Joseph van der Elst (d. 1971), Brussels and numerous diplomatic posts; by descent to his son, François van der Elst; on loan to the Cleveland Museum of Art, June 1978–Oct. 1980 [dates of the loan supplied by Mary Suzor, Registrar at the Cleveland Museum of Art]; sold to the Art Institute through Richard Collins as agent, 1986.

Recorded by Art Institute of Chicago.

Exhibitions

Exhibition history

Vienna, Vereinigung bildender Künstler Wiener Secession, Drei Jahrhunderte vlämische Kunst, 1400–1700, 1930, no. 36.
Antwerp, Exposition d’art flamand ancien, 1930, no. 25.
Brussels, Exposition universelle et internationale, Cinq siècles d’art bruxellois, 1935, no. 75.
Paris, Musée de l’Orangerie, De Van Eyck à Bruegel, 1935, no. 5.
New York, Knoedler, Flemish Primitives: An Exhibition Organized by the Belgian Government, 1942, no. 30.
Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, De Madonna in de Kunst, 1954, no. 12.
Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts, and Delft, Museum Prinsenhof, Dieric Bouts, 1957–58, no. 24.
Art Institute of Chicago, Recent Acquisitions from the Photography Collection, 1988–89 (no cat.).
Art Institute of Chicago, Spiritual Expressions: Art for Private Contemplation and Public Celebration, November 22, 1995–March 17, 1996 (no cat.).

Literature

Published references

Max J. Friedländer, Die altniederländische Malerei, vol. 3, Berlin, 1925, p. 124, no. 83f (rev. English ed., Early Netherlandish Painting, Brussels and Leiden, 1968, pp. 71, 88 no. 67, no. 83f, pl. 93)
Paul Jamot, “An Avignonese Mater Dolorosa,” Burlington Magazine 50 (1927), p. 73.
Ludwig Baldass, “Drei Jahrhunderte vlämische Malerei,” Pantheon 5 (1930), p. 132 (ill.).
A. H. Cornette, La Peinture à l’Exposition d’art flamand ancien à Anvers, 1930, Brussels, 1930, p. 6, fig. 5.
Max Eisler, “The Exhibition of Three Hundred Years of Flemish Art in Vienna,” Apollo 11 (1930), p. 188 (ill.).
Gustav Glück, “Drei Jahrhunderte vlämische Kunst: Ausstellung in der Wiener ‘Sezession,’” Belvedere 9 (1930), p. 78, fig. 51.
Édouard Michel, “Les Expositions du Centenaire de la Belgique,” Beaux-Arts 8, 9 (1930), p. 4, fig. 6.
Carlo Aru, “Il trittico di Clemente VII nel tesoro del Duomo di Cagliari,” in Mélanges Hulin de Loo, Brussels and Paris, 1931, pp. 18–19.
Johannes Wilde, “L’Examen des tableaux à l’Institut Holzknecht de Vienne,” Mouseion 5, 4 (1931), p. 19, pl. V.2 (x-radiograph, reversed).
Ludwig Baldass, “Die Entwicklung des Dirk Bouts,” Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien, n.s., 6 (1932), pp. 86, 114, fig. 80.
P[ierre] B[autier], in Trésor de l’art flamand du moyen âge au XVIIIme siècle: Mémorial de l’exposition d’art flamand ancien à Anvers, 1930, vol. 1, Brussels, 1932, pp. 34, 99, no. 25, fig. 5.
Édouard Michel, L’Art flamand (de Van Eyck à Bruegel), Paris, 1935, pl. 20.

Comparables