The Madonna and Child (after Van Dyck)
after Sir Peter Lely (Soest 1618 – London 1680)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1630 - 1699
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1003 x 1226 mm (39½ x 48¼ in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Lacock, Wiltshire
NT 996289
Caption
This is an adaptation of Van Dyck's The Abbé Scaglia adoring the Madonna and Child now in the National Gallery, London. In this picture the composition has been changed to a rectangular format, substituting a cradle for the figure of the Abbé, with a wall – not a curtain – behind, a landscape rather than sky in the left background, and rather than engaging the viewer, the Virgin here looks towards the Infant Christ. Although there is no record of Van Dyck's original having been in England prior to its sale in 1819, there are a number of indications that it -or a good copy of it- may have been in England. There is a version by Wissing himself, which supports the theory that this is by his studio. How this adaptation got to Lacock is also a mystery, but it must be presumed that it came through the Talbots, who were Catholic.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, The Madonna and Child (after Van Dyck). Another version (also after Van Dyck) by Lely is in an American private collection.
Provenance
Given by Matilda Theresa Talbot (formerly Gilchrist-Clark) (1871 – 1958), who gave the Abbey, the village of Lacock and the rest of the estate to the National Trust in 1944, along with 96 of the family portraits and other pictures, in 1948
Credit line
Lacock Abbey, The Talbot Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
after Sir Peter Lely (Soest 1618 – London 1680), artist after Sir Anthony Van Dyck (Antwerp 1599 - London 1641), artist previously catalogued as studio of Willem Wissing (Amsterdam 1656 - Burghley House 1687), artist