Image above: The Wyvern Virgin and Child with Music Playing Angel
INV. NO. 2219
oil on panel, h.63 x w.44.4 cm
Provenance: Purportedly in the oratory of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in the Monastery of San Jerónimo de Yuste, Spain, after 1557; in the collection of King Louis Philippe of France, and on display in the Galerie Espagnole at the Musée du Louvre 1838-1848 (in the gallery of foreign masters in Spain as school of Van Eyck); Taken by Louis Philippe to England in 1848 and sold in his posthumous sale at Christie’s London 2-21st May 1853, lot 184 (as school of Van Eyck); with Galerie Robert Finck, Brussels in 1963; in a private collection in the Rhineland; Lempertz Art Gallery, Cologne, Auction 1057, November 2015, Old Master and 19th Century Paintings and Drawings, lot 1404; The Wyvern Collection, UK, 2015.
This painting depicts the Virgin enthroned before a cloth of honour, holding the Christ Child on her lap. To her right, an angel dressed in liturgical garb kneels beside them. Holding a vielle in one hand, the angel extends an apple with the other - an allusion to the fruit of original sin - towards the Christ Child, who reaches out to take it. In doing so, Christ exposes the areas of his body that will later receive the Five Wounds of the Crucifixion. Above them, a red canopy flutters in the breeze behind two swags of foliage held in place by putti, an Italianate all’antica motif. The figures are enclosed within an archway flanked by two columns, whose stone capitals are carved with biblical scenes depicting the Sacrifice of Abraham and Isaac and the beheading of Saint Catherine.
The composition is almost identical to a triptych in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, attributed to Memling and dated c.1485–90 (fig 1). In the case of the Vienna triptych, the central scene is accompanied by two wings occupied by the figures of Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist. Another painting dating to 1499/1500, and therefore reusing the composition after Memling’s death, as is likely the case for the Wyvern panel, can be found in the collection of the Petit Palais in Paris (fig 2). It is well known that Memling had an active workshop, which he is believed to have established in Bruges c.1464. The use of assistants in the production of the numerous paintings attributed to him is evidenced by the repeated reuse of compositional prototypes and figure models, visible both on the painted surface, as seen here, and in underdrawings revealed through technical analysis (1). The model for the Vienna painting was likely the triptych painted for the Florentine patron Benedetto Pagagnotti, Bishop of Vaison in Provence, dated c.1480 and now divided between the Uffizi in Florence (the central panel) and the National Gallery in London (the wings) (fig 3; 2). Paula Nuttall has argued that the central panel of the Pagagnotti triptych was the first to employ the overtly Italianate motifs of swags and putti later repeated in the Wyvern painting (3).
One of the key differences of the Wyvern painting is the imbalance of its composition in comparison to its counterparts in Vienna and Paris, both of which feature donors kneeling on the left of the Virgin. Subtle variations can also be observed in the cloths of honour, the Turkish carpets, and the landscapes. Given the later dating of the Wyvern painting, it remains unclear whether it is a product of Memling’s workshop, possibly still functioning after the master’s death, or the work of a follower using the same models. The lack of a donor portrait also raises questions concerning the production of the panel, whether it was made for the open market, and what can be inferred about its early ownership, issues currently under investigation at the Institute.
While the iconography of the Wyvern painting offers limited insight into its early history, its later provenance is better documented. In 1838 it was catalogued in the Galerie Espagnole at the Musée du Louvre, which had been established by Louis-Philippe to inspire contemporary French painters by exposing them to Spanish art and works long held in Spain. Attributed at that time to the ‘School of Van Eyck’, it was noted in the cataloguing that prior to entering the French royal collection the painting had hung in the oratory of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (4). Given the painting’s 19th century association with Spain it has been presumed that this was in the Monastery at Juste, to which Charles V had retired in 1557, a year before his death. The emperor is known to have furnished his surroundings at Yuste with numerous devotional paintings, although it remains to be seen whether the Wyvern panel can be identified in surviving inventories of his possessions (5).
Notes:
(1) For a discussion of Memling’s workshop practice see Till-Holger Borchert, ‘Memling’s Workshop’ in Lizet Klaassen and Dieter Lampens [eds.], Harmony in Bright Colors: Memling’s God the Father with Singing and Music-Making Angels Restored (Brepols, 2021)
(2) For a discussion of the Pagagnotti Triptych see Lorne Campbell, NG 747, Saints John the Baptist and Lawrence (National Gallery, 1998; online version 3, 2025).
(3) Paula Nuttall, ‘Memling’s Pagagnotti Virgin and Child: Italian Renaissance sculpture reimagined’, Sculpture Journal, vol. 26:1 (2017), pp.25-36.
(4) Notice des tableaux de la Galerie Espagnole exposés dans les salles du Musée Royal au Louvre, (Paris, 1938), p.104, no.426.
(5) For a discussion of Charles V’s retirement at Yuste and the paintings he surrounded himself with see Piers Baker-Bates, ‘The ‘Cloister Life’ of the Emperor Charles V: Art and Ideology at Yuste’, Hispanic Research Journal, vol.14:5 (2013), pp.427-45.
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