“Virgo Inter Virgines“ (“Virgin Among Virgins”). Altarpiece Of The Convent Of The Carmelites Of Sion, In Bruges, Belgium. Now In Rouen, France.

English: “Virgin Among The Virgins”.

Dutch: Maria met kind, vrouwelijke heiligen, 

musicerende engelen en stichters.

Artist: Gérard David (circa 1450 – 1523).

Collection: Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen.

Source/Photographer: Museum page.

(Wikimedia Commons)

This Article was promulgated by the Post by Gregory Dipippo on NEW LITURGICAL MOVEMENT

Trained in Haarlem, where Gérard de Saint-Jean worked, before being welcomed to Bruges, Gérard David became one of the City’s finest painters, perpetuating the tradition of Hans Memling, who died in 1494. 

After becoming a Free Master of the Guild of Painters in 1484, he married Cornelia Cnoop, the daughter of the senior member of the Goldsmiths’ Guild in 1496. 

The Altarpiece of the “Virgo Inter Virgines” was donated in 1509 to the Convent of the Carmelites of Sion, in Bruges. [Editor: It is now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Rouen, France.]

Mary, enthroned between two musical Angels, holds the Baby Jesus, who is picking grapes off a bunch – a symbol of the Eucharist. 

She is receiving the homage of a gathering of Martyrs with a child-like charm, recognisable by their attributes, each depicted in the manner of precious ornaments. 

From Left to Right: 

Saint Dorothy, with her Basket of Roses (the lawyer, Theophilus, had promised to convert to Christianity if she sent him Roses and Apples, after her Martyrdom, from the Garden of Christ);

Saint Catherine of Alexandria, with a Crown adorned with the Catherine Wheel (which miraculously broke instead of killing her);

Saint Agnes, with a Lamb at her feet (the Saint was killed, aged fourteen, because she refused to marry a pagan);

Behind Saint Agnes, an anonymous woman;

Then Saint Fausta, with a Saw (the instrument of her Martyrdom);

Saint Apollonia, with a set of Tongs (which were used to pull out her Teeth);

Saint Godelina, with a Scarf (which her husband used to have her strangled);

Saint Cecilia, beside an Organ (she sang Praises to the Lord until her dying breath;

Saint Barbara , whose head-dress is adorned with a Tower (her father had her locked away there);

Saint Lucy (Lucia) holding her Eyes (which some maintain were gouged out, while others assert that she gouged them out. herself);

The man, in the upper Left corner, is the painter Gérard David, and the woman on the Right, in the White Cornet, is most probably his wife, Cornelia.

The Saints stand out against a neutral background with a visual force reminiscent of a bas-relief, but which is animated by the faces and the beauty of the materials. 

In this dense ensemble, the unusually accentuated upright stance of The Virgin, in its almost statuesque solidity, seems to echo the Madonna of Bruges, by Michelangelo, who arrived in the City in 1506.