Adoration of the Kings
by DAVID, Gerard, Oil on panel, 60 x 59 cm
The two panels in the National Gallery, the Adoration of the Kings and the Lamentation, were part of a larger altarpiece which was probably painted in 1515, when David moved from Bruges to Antwerp.
The oval-faced Virgin with typically downcast eyes and prominent dimpled chin; the widely spaced placements of her legs, like two columns, supporting the erect Christ Child on her lap; the neatly arranged, cascading draperies spilling out onto the floor in tightly composed, angular folds - these are all characteristic of David’s paintings of the Virgin and Child.