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Bernard van Orley

The Marriage of the Virgin, c. 1513

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 41-A

Medium

oil on panel

Dimensions

painted surface: 54.4 x 33 cm (21 7/16 x 13 in.)
overall (panel): 55.5 x 34 cm (21 7/8 x 13 3/8 in.)

framed: 63 x 41.8 x 5.7 cm (24 13/16 x 16 7/16 x 2 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Samuel H. Kress Collection

Accession Number

1952.5.48

Artists / Makers

Bernard van Orley (artist) Netherlandish, c. 1488 - 1541

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Provenance

Abbot Jacques Coëne [d. 1542], Marchiennes. (Annesley Gore, London), by January 1923.[1] (Kunsthandel AG Lucerne); acquired October 1923 by (F. Kleinberger Galleries, Inc., New York and Paris);[2] sold 10 December 1923 to Albert J. Kobler [d. 1936], New York; by inheritance to Mrs. Albert J. [Mignon Sommers] Kobler;[3] by inheritance to her sons, John Kobler, Weston, Connecticut, and Jason S. Kobler, New York; consigned 18 June 1946 and sold 16 October 1947 to (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris);[3] purchased 1949 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[4] gift 1952 by exchange to NGA.

[1] Reproduced in an advertisement for Annesley Gore, Ltd. in Burlington Magazine 42 (January 1923): V.

[2] Kleinberger Galleries stock card no. 15571, Department of European Paintings, Metropolitan Museum of Art (copy, NGA curatorial records).

[3] The agreement for a consignment of nine paintings and two tapestries between the Kobler sons and Duveen Brothers was dated 22 April 1946, and the objects were delivered two months later on 18 June.

[3] The provenance from this point forward has been revised since it was published in 1986 in the NGA's systematic catalogue Early Netherlandish Painting. Newspaper articles located by Patricia Teter, and documents found by Dan Jacobs in the Duveen Brothers Records (Getty Research Institute, Research Library, accession number 960015, reel 329, box 474, folder 3), all kindly copied for NGA curatorial files, give the details. The provenance published in 1986 included the name of Mrs. Edward A. Westfall, who was listed as a former owner in the catalogue of the 1946 exhibition at Duveen's; however, the documents in the Duveen Brothers Records show no evidence of Westfall ownership. Dan Jacobs rightly concludes that the use of Mrs. Westfall's name likely came about as the result of a dispute between the Internal Revenue Service and the Kobler estate (which had initially been reported as valued at only $5,000; see "A.J. Kobler estate is less than $5,000," The New York Times [19 May 1937]: 23). Edward Westfall, like Kobler an executive with the Hearst newspapers, was an honorary pallbearer at Kobler's funeral, so there was certainly a professional and social connection (see "200 Attend Services for Albert Kobler," The New York Times [4 January 1937]: 29). The correspondence with Dan Jacobs and Patricia Teter, from March, April, and June 2005, is in NGA curatorial files.

[4] See The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2239.

Associated Names

Böhler, Julius
Coëne, Jacques, Abbot
Duveen Brothers, Inc.
Gore, Ltd., Annesley
Kleinberger Gallery
Kobler, Albert J.
Kobler, Albert J., Mrs.
Kobler, Jason S.
Kobler, John
Kress Foundation, Samuel H.

Exhibition History

1929: Loan Exhibition of Flemish Primitives, F. Kleinberger Galleries, New York, 1929, no. 85.

1946: An Exhibition of Flemish Paintings, Duveen Art Galleries, New York, 1946, no. 16.

2019: Bernard van Orley: Brussels and the Renaissance, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, 2019, no. 5, repro.

Technical Summary

The painting is in very good condition with only small scattered retouchings and a large, repainted loss in the upper left sky. With the possible exception of the bottom edge, the panel has been cut down slightly at the edges, so that portions of the design and barbe are missing. The paint surface narrows on the sides 10 cm from the bottom, suggesting that the frame was irregularly shaped. Examination with infrared reflectography reveals extensive underdrawing throughout the figures and architecture. There are numerous minor changes in the figures; the small square windows were originally drawn larger and arched. The painting was cleaned and restored in 1949.

Bibliography

1907: Vollmer, Hans. "Orley, Bernart van." In Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. 37 vols. Edited by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker. Leipzig, 1907-1950: 26(1932):49.

1924: Friedländer, Max J. Die altniederländische Malerei 14 vols.,1924-1937. Berlin, 1930: 8:86, 87, 167, no. 90, pls. 74-76 (English ed., 14 vols., 1967-1976. Leiden, 1972: 8:54,55, 103, no. 90, pl. 88.)

1929: Burrows, Carlyle. "Exhibition of Flemish Primitive Painting." Parnassus 1 (November 1929): 9.

1929: "Flemish Show Opens Today at Kleinbergers." Art News 28 (26 October 1929): 12, nos. 85, 86.

1929: "Partial List of Flemish Primitives in Kleinberger Show." Art News 28 (12 October 1929): 5.

1943: Lavalleye, Jacques. "Le Style du peintre Bernard van Orley." In Bernard van Orley 1488-1541. Brussels, 1943: 46.

1944: Baldass, Ludwig. "Die Entwicklung des Bernart van Orley." Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses (Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien) N.F. 13 (1944): 145.

1951: Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1945-1951. Introduction by John Walker, text by William E. Suida. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1951: 200, no. 88, repro.

1959: Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 287, repro.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 98.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 86, repro.

1969: Osten, Gert von der, and Horst Vey. Painting and Sculpture in Germany and the Netherlands 1500 to 1600. Harmondsworth, 1969: 145.

1973: Gelder, J. G. van. "Scorel, Mor, Bellegambe und Orley in Marchiennes." Oud Holland 87 (1973): 171-172, figs. 16-18.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 256, repro. 257.

1977: Eisler, Colin. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools Excluding Italian. Oxford, 1977: 81-82, fig. 77.

1981: Farmer, John David. "Bernard van Orley of Brussels." Ph.D. diss., Princeton University, 1981: 49, 61, 63-65, 68-69, 79, 338, no. 90, figs. 19-21.

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

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 130, no. 123, color repro.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 294, repro.

1986: Hand, John Oliver and Martha Wolff. Early Netherlandish Painting. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, 1986: 216-223, color repro. 217.