Hulin de Loo, Georges: Early Flemish paintings in the Renders Collection at Bruges: exhibited at the Belgian Exhibition, Burlington House, January 1927 (London, 1927)

ROGIER VAN DER WEYDEN. 5S THE VIRGIN SUCKLING
St Oa\ panel : 24 centimeters high hy 20 centimeters wide. 35

IN itself alone this picture is a revelation. It is known
how wide - spread are the round replicas representing the
Virgin suckling her child in which the types, pose, expression and
even the way in which the Virgin’s hair is dressed recall the
famous Frankfort Madonna painted by the Master of Flemalle
(presumably Robert Campin). Some differences however are
worthy of note : in nearly all these tondos, for instance, the
forehead and the head of the Virgin are far less developed
than in the original, and the Child’s hand instead of being
placed, like in the Frankfort picture, on the edge of the
dress, rests on the uncovered breast of the Mother. Nearly
all the most important museums, as well as numerous collect
tions possess some of these different « variantes »; the two best
being probably the one in the Friedsam collection in New
York (originally in the Cardon collection) and the one in
the Johnson collection in Philadelphia, i--t-r-t — : —
St In explanation both of the evident relationship to the
Frankfort Virgin and of the above mentioned differences, it
has been the custom to attribute all these copies to a
single original presumably painted by the Master of Flemalle :