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Set in a church, nine men and one woman gather around a throne, on which sits a young boy in this vertical painting. All the people have pale or olive-toned skin. The boy has long, wavy brown hair framing an oval face with delicate features. He looks down in front of him as he holds the tips of his two pointer fingers to touch. His gold-edged, ocean-blue robe falls loosely to the floor over one bare foot. The throne is carved from parchment-white stone and it sits on a low platform set on three shallow steps. Behind the boy, a crimson-red cloth patterned with gold and edged with a moss-green border is held up with four ropes tied into a four-point canopy. Five bearded and cleanshaven men stand and sit in a close group to our left, in front of the throne. They all wear hats, including a turban, hoods, and caps, and long robes in red, green, and white. Two hold open books and each man looks in a different direction, either toward the child or toward the group of four men and one woman clustered to our right. At the center of that second group, the woman wears a white cloth covering her head and a teal-blue robe, and she holds her hands together in prayer. Upon closer inspection, one finds that the woman and child’s heads are surrounded by lines radiating out to create haloes. The other four men in the group to our right also wear jewel-toned robes, and all wear caps except for one man, who is bareheaded. The man closest to us holds his hands with fingertips touching, like the child. The floor between the groups, leading up to the throne, is inlaid with square and X-patterns in sky blue, rose pink, golden yellow, and off white. To either side of the throne and behind the groups of men, six columns support statues carved from white stone. The polished columns are marbled with brick red, pine green, and fawn brown. Two taller columns along the left and right edges of the painting support a pale gray stone arch, which is cut off by the top edge. The apse beyond the throne is decorated on the second level with stained glass set within gray stone walls. An arched opening in the wall to our right, above the woman, leads to a view of buildings with stepped rooflines.

Master of the Catholic Kings

Christ among the Doctors, c. 1495/1497

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 38

Medium

oil on panel

Dimensions

overall (original painted surface): 136.2 x 93 cm (53 5/8 x 36 5/8 in.)
overall (with addition at bottom): 155.2 x 93 cm (61 1/8 x 36 5/8 in.)

framed: 183.5 x 128.9 x 12.1 cm (72 1/4 x 50 3/4 x 4 3/4 in.)

Credit Line

Samuel H. Kress Collection

Accession Number

1952.5.43

Artists / Makers

Master of the Catholic Kings (artist) Spanish, active c. 1485/1500

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Inscription

on Mary's mantle (in relief, deciphered with infrared reflectography): ENIHS*O IO*EEPRS I*MO[?]S*SIE*E OE O*EI

Provenance

Possibly commissioned for a convent or church in Valladolid, Spain.[1] Before 1919, José María de Palacio, Conde de las Almenas, Madrid;[2] sold 28 March 1919 to (Frank Partridge and Sons, Ltd., London).[3] Dr. Preston Pope Satterwhite [1867-1948], New York, by 1933;[4] possibly purchased by (French & Co., New York).[5] purchased 1941 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[6] gift 1952 to NGA.

[1] The probable patronage of the Catholic Kings has led Van der Put and subsequent commentators to posit that the altarpiece was commissioned for a church or convent in Valladolid. Albert van der Put, typescript, c. 1922, in NGA curatorial files. The painting has qualities characteristic of Spanish paintings in northern Castile during the reign of the Catholic Kings. Among cities in the region, Valladolid was the one most favored by the monarchs, who occasionally held court there. The theory that the panels were intended for an institution in Valladolid is plausible, but cannot be regarded as certain. Even if the paintings were created in northern Castile, they could have been commissioned for an institution in another part of Spain.

[2] This painting is shown hanging on a wall of the Madrid residence of the Conde de las Almenas in a photograph in Arthur Byne and Mildred Shapley, Spanish Interiors and Furniture, 2 vols. (New York, 1922), 2: pl. 109.

[3] Frank Partridge, memorandum, 1924, in the files of the Frick Art Reference Library, New York.

[4] Chandler R. Post, A History of Spanish Painting (Cambridge, Mass., 1933), v. IV, pt. II, 418.

[5] From Colin Eisler, Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools Excluding Italian (Oxford, 1977), 178 and provenance card, NGA curatorial files; however in her 26 August 1988 letter, Martha Hepworth of the Getty Provenance Index indicates that these panels do not appear in the French & Co. stock books, which are now at the Getty. Robert Samuels, Jr., a representative of French & Co., searched the French & Co. records still kept at the New York office, but also was unable to find any references to the two panels.

[6] Provenance card, NGA curatorial files. See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/501.

Associated Names

Convent, Vallodolid, ESP
French & Company LLC
Kress Foundation, Samuel H.
Palacio, Conde de las Almenas, José María de
Partridge and Sons, Ltd., Frank
Satterwhite, Preston Pope, Dr.

Exhibition History

1935: Exhibition of Spanish Painting, The Brooklyn Museum, 1937, no. 7.

1937: Spanish Paintings, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1937, no cat.

1951: Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1951, 178, no. 78.

Technical Summary

The original support is composed of three vertically oriented pieces of pine. An addition approximately 19 cm tall, consisting of several pieces of pine with vertical grain, is attached to the bottom of the original support.[1] The irregular line of damage along the lower edge of the original support suggests that the addition may have replaced a destroyed part of the original composition. A modern cradle is attached to the composite panel. The original support is covered by a thick white ground probably composed of two layers. There appears to be a thicker, lower layer with fibrous inclusions (grass?) and a second, thinner ground layer without fibers above. The ground on the added pieces has a markedly different composition from the ground on the original support. The composition was underdrawn on the original support in a black liquid, probably applied with a brush. Broad parallel and cross-hatched strokes define the figures and primary details of the setting in the underdrawing. A downward shift in the eyes, lips, and nose of the Christ Child is the only major change between the underdrawing and the painting. The main lines of the architecture were incised in the ground layer. A thin, brown imprimatura is thought to cover the ground beneath the paint layer; the tonality of the imprimatura was used as a base for the faces of the doctors, but elsewhere is covered over with thick opaque paint. Oil paint was applied in a variety of techniques, ranging from carefully built-up opaque layers with some slightly raised brush texture to thin, translucent glazes. The painting is in stable condition, although the panel is penetrated by cracks and checks. X-radiographs indicate scattered losses of paint.

[1] The woods used for the original support and additions were analyzed by Michael Palmer, NGA scientific department.

Bibliography

1913: Mayer, August L. Geschichte der spanischen Malerei. Leipzig, 1922: 145 (also Spanish ed. Madrid, 1942: 166).

1933: Post, Chandler Rathfon. A History of Spanish Painting. 14 vols. Cambridge, Mass., 1930-1966: 4, pt. 2:418-428.

1937: Clifford, Henry. "Great Spanish Painters: A Timely Show." Art News 35 (17 April, 1937): 9.

1952: Brans, J. V. L. Isabel la católica y el arte hispanoflamenco. Madrid, 1952: 130-132.

1958: Gaya Nuño, Juan Anotonio. La pintura española fuera de España; historia y catàlogo. Madrid, 1958: 274, no. 2274.

1959: Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 262, repro.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 86.

1966: Gudiol y Ricart, José. "El Pintor Diego de la Cruz." Goya. 70 (1966): 208-217.

1968: Cuttler, Charles D. Northern Painting from Pucelle to Brueghel. New York, 1968: 254.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 75, repro.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 224, repro.

1977: Eisler, Colin. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools Excluding Italian. Oxford, 1977: 177-178, 181, fig. 182.

1982: Abrams, Richard I. and Warner A. Hutchinson. An Illustrated Life of Jesus, From the National Gallery of Art Collection. Nashville, 1982: 42-43. color repro.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 142, no. 143, color repro.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 256, repro.

1988: Wheeler, Marion, ed. His Face--Images of Christ in Art, New York, 1988: 126, no. 26, color repro.

1990: Brown, Jonathan, and Richard G. Mann. Spanish Paintings of the Fifteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1990: 101-104, color repro. 103.

2004: Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 70-71, no. 52, color repro.