Oudewater, c. 1460 - Bruges, 1523
Appointed as a master painter of the City of Bruges in 1484, Gerard David was one of the last great representatives of the Flemish Primitives from the Bruges school (Van Eyck, Van der Weyden, Memling). Clearly inspired by his master, his works were among the first to reveal a quiet gentleness resulting from his contact with the Italian Renaissance.
Born in Oudewater (in the northern part of the Netherlands), Gerard David probably trained in Haarlem with Ælbert van Ouwater. He then went to Bruges where he joined the Guild of Saint Luke in 1484, the town’s brotherhood for painters. Ten years after the death of Hans Memling in 1474, he became this great trading town’s most prestigious painter. This is where he built his career and remained until the end of his days. During his lifetime, it appears that Gerard David made two important journeys: one to Genoa in Italy, around 1511, and the other to Antwerp in 1517.
An illustrious representative of painting in Bruges at the end of the 15th century, Gerard David integrated the lessons of Jan Van Eyck and Hans Memling into his paintings. The contemplative pose of the Virgin and the way fabric is painted in the ‘Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine’ (1505-1510, The National Gallery, London) are fine examples. The Virgin among the Virgins (1509, Museum of Fine Arts, Rouen) proves his continued attachment to the monumentality of the figures, while ‘The Virgin with Milk Soup’ (1520, Royal Museums of Belgium, Brussels) offers an innovative interpretation of the theme of the Virgin and Child in a contemporary interior thus humanising the divine couple and making them more accessible to believers.
All through his career, Gerard David increasingly turned his attention to portraying landscapes. The ‘Triptych of the baptism of Christ’, known as the ‘Triptych of Jan des Trompes’ (finished c. 1508, Groenige Museum, Bruges), is one of the finest examples of this new direction. His interest in landscape can also be seen in a painting such as ‘Rest during the Flight into Egypt’ (1510, National Gallery of Art, Washington). Proving his growing interest in landscape, Gerard David painted two small panels at the end of his life which are now considered to be the first landscapes portrayed in Flemish painting (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam).
A Flemish Primitive artist of Dutch origin, Gerard David is considered to be the last great painter from the 15th century Bruges school.
