Gouda triptych of the Life of Mary is a circa 1565 oil on panel triptych by the painter Dirck Barendsz in the collection of the Museum Gouda.[1] It is an unusual survivor of the Beeldenstorm that has never left Gouda, and has been well documented as a city highlight over the centuries, because it shows the freer Venetian style of Italian painting rather than the mannerism more common among Barendsz' contemporaries.[2]
| Gouda triptych of the Life of Mary | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Dirck Barendsz |
| Year | circa 1565 |
| Medium | Oil on panel |
| Dimensions | 277 cm × 370 cm (109 in × 150 in) |
| Location | Museum Gouda, Gouda |
The central panel is the Adoration of the shepherds. Mary kneels before her child, which lies in a crib supported by her left hand in her cloak. With her left hand she reaches for the Child’s left foot. In front of the crib is a basket of linen. Behind her is Joseph with the ox and donkey, and he is looking at the shepherds who have come to view the baby.; A group of angels hover above the scene and appear to be wrestling with clouds to lean forward towards the Child Jesus.
The triptych is accompanied on the left panel with a scene of the Dormition and on the right panel of the Assumption of the Virgin. The shutters closed show the Annunciation.
The painting was mentioned by Karel van Mander in his Schilder-boeck as one of the artist’s best works.[3] By that time in 1604 the "trubbel" of the Reformation had passed and this triptych was once again on view, but no longer in the Sint Janskerk for which it had been commissioned, as that church became Protestant after 1566. It was on show at that time in the "Fraters huys", or Fraterhouse of the Brethren of the Common Life. Unlike other cities in the Netherlands, the religious works considered too Catholic during the iconoclasm had been kept back by the city of Gouda and not sold off, and thus this one could be saved as part of Gouda’s cultural heritage. In his work on the Schilderboeck, the art historian Hessel Miedema noticed that some cities seemed to fare better than others, and remarked that perhaps less was destroyed than had been sold. Alert city custodians were able to retrieve some works or find them in sales catalogs because they had described them minutely beforehand. The Sint Janskerk had had an extra and somewhat dubious advantage in that the great church had been closed for renovations during the 1550s and 1560s due to a disastrous fire that occurred on January 12, 1552.[2] So though commissioned for the great church, it is impossible that it had not been seen there publicly before the troubles began the year after it was completed.
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The triptych in the museum today -
’’The Dormition’’ -
’’The Assumption’’
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The triptych scene of the Annunciation as it would be with the shutters closed:
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left shutter -
right shutter
References
- ^ Short film on museum website
- ^ a b Judson, Bulletin KMSK, 1962
- ^ Under Folio 176, 'The Life of Dirck Barentsen of Amsterdam'
- Article about Dirck Barentsen, including an illustrated discussion of this triptych, by Jay Richard Judson, Bulletin KMSK, 1962
- 'Noch is nu ter tijdt van hem een Tafel ter Goude / in 't Fraters huys / en is een kersnacht / wonderwel op zyn Italiaensch gehandelt / en een van zyn besonderste werken.', quote from Karel van Mander in his Schilder-boeck, 1604, on archive.org