The Virgin Holding an Oak Branch
ArtistAttributed to
Michel Dorigny
(French, 1616-1665)
CultureFrench
Dateafter 1640
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsOverall: 32 1/2 x 25 1/2 in. (82.6 x 64.8 cm)
Overall, Frame: 41 1/2 x 35 in. (105.4 x 88.9 cm)
Overall, Frame: 41 1/2 x 35 in. (105.4 x 88.9 cm)
Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.
Object number71.520
Collections
On View
Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 206
Label TextAttributed to Michel Dorigny French (1617-1665) The Virgin Holding an Oak Branch, after 1640 Oil on canvas Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.520 In this tender devotional image of the Madonna and Child, the infant Christ reclines on his mother's lap. His pose and knowing glance seem to prompt us forward in time, to the tragic moment of the Pietà, when Christ's body is pulled from the cross and placed in the Madonna's lap. This melancholic reference is countered by the more hopeful message conveyed by the oak branch the Madonna holds. According to early Christian lore, Christ's cross was hewn from an oak tree, and like the cross, the hardy oak became a symbol of the strength and endurance of the Christian faith in the face of life's adversities. The gifted Parisian engraver and painter Michel Dorigny was a student of Simon Vouet who introduced the Baroque style of painting to early 17th-century France. Dorigny married Vouet's daughter Jeanne Angélique, and his style closely followed that of his famous father-in-law. In fact the Chrysler's painting closely follows the composition of Vouet's Virgin Holding and Oak Branch, ca. 1540 (present location unknown). ProvenanceLouis Hesselin, Paris, France, by 1651; Frédéric Mallet, Paris, France, 1938; sale Hotel Drouot, Paris, France, Feb. 9-10, 1938, no. 168; Duc de Trévise, Paris, France, 1938-1949; auction, collection Duc de Trévise, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, France, Dec. 8, 1947 (no. 76); Art trade, Jean Néger, Paris, France,1953; Borislav Bogdanovich, New York, N.Y., 1953; Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., New York, N.Y., 1953; Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Va., 1971. Exhibition History"Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Portland Art Museum, Or., March 3 - April 16, 1956; Seattle Art Museum, Wa., April 27 - May 27, 1956; California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, Ca., June 12 - July 11, 1956; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Ca., July 26 - Aug. 26, 1956; Minneapolis Art Institute, Mn., Sept. 8 - Oct. 7, 1956; St. Louis City Art Museum, Mo., Oct. 19 - Nov. 18, 1956; William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City, Mo., Nov. 30, 1956 - Jan 2, 1957; Detroit Institute of Arts, Mi., Jan. 18 - Feb. 17, 1957; and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Ma., March 2, 1956 - April 14, 1957. "Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown Inaugural Exhibition," Provincetown, Ma., 1958. "1550-1650, A Century of Masters from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Fort Worth Art Center, Fort Worth, Tx., Sept. 7 - Nov. 4, 1962; Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa, Ok., Dec. 4, 1962 - Jan. 23, 1963; University of Texas, Austin, Tx., Feb. 4 - March 31, 1963. "Vouet to Rigaud: French Masters of the Seventeenth Century," Finch College Museum of Art, New York, N.Y., April 20 - June 18, 1967. "Homage to the Louvre," Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, Va., May - Sept., 1976. "Treasures from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk and Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Tennessee Fine Arts Center at Cheekwood, Nashville, Tn., June 12 - Sept. 5, 1977. "Behind the Seen: The Chrysler's Hidden Museum," Large Changing Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., October 21, 2005 - February 19, 2006. "By Popular Demand: Your Selections, Your Gallery," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, May 10 - August 31, 2014.Published ReferencesBertina S. Manning, _Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.: An Exhibition Organized by the Portland Art Museum, Oregon_, exh. cat., Portland Art Museum, Portland, Or., 1956, no. 53. Bertina S. Manning, _Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown Inaugural Exhibition_, exh. cat., Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown, Ma., 1958, no. 75. Robert L. Manning, _Studies in the History of Art: Dedicated to William E. Suida on his Eightieth Birthday_ (London: Phaidon Press for the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, 1959), 294-303, no. 14. _1550-1650, A Century of Masters from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr._, exh. cat., Fort Worth Art Center, Fort Worth, Tx., 1962, 47. _Vouet to Rigaud: French Masters of the Seventeenth Century_, exh. cat., Finch College Museum of Art, New York, N.Y., 1967, cover ill. and no. 7. Thomas B. Hess and John Ashbery, _The Academy: Art News Annual_ 33 (New York: Newsweek, distributed by MacMillan Co., 1967). Eric M. Zafran and Mario Amaya, _Treasures from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk and Walter P. Chrysler, Jr._, exh. cat., Tennessee Fine Arts Center at Cheekwood, Nashville, Tn., 1977, no. 7. _The Chrysler Museum: Selections from the Permanent Collection, Norfolk, Virginia_, (Norfolk: Chrysler Museum, 1982), 35. Jean-Pierre Cuzin, "French Seventeenth-Century Paintings From American Collections," _Burlington Magazine_ 104 (August 1982): 530.
14th century