The following condition report has been provided by Karen Thomas of Thomas Art Conservation LLC., 336 West 37th Street, Suite 830, New York, NY 10018, 212-564-4024, info@thomasartconservation.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. A beautifully preserved picture which appears to retain an original preparation and coat of dark paint on the back. The support displays a slight convex lateral warp. The picture appears to have been previously selectively cleaned in the flesh passages, leaving a slightly cloudy and discolored varnish atop the rest of the painted area. Tiny spots of this aged coating in the flesh passages create a slightly mottled, warm tonality. Touches of old, discolored restoration are visible in Mary's red garment, on the left, and along the right edge.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

The design for this tender portrayal of the Virgin and Child originates in the studio of Dieric Bouts. Max Friedländer identified four versions of the composition, but none are today accepted as being by the master himself.¹  The details of the compositions vary:  two have a landscape background, while the picture in the Louvre (Friedländer 93b) has a gold background, like the one here, though decorated above with a border of carnations.² 

The present work is of higher quality than any of the recorded copies.  The anatomy of the figures is better understood, as are the folds of the drapery, and there is a stronger connection between the mother and childꦛ.  We truly sense the weight of the Christ Child as he wriggles in the Virgin's arms, and her expression shows tenderness as well a contentment.  There is also a greater sense of plasticity and volume to the figures than is usually associated with the Bouts workshop, which suggests that the author of this panel may have trained or been working at some remove.

The results of an examination of the panel under infrared-reflectography, taken together with these distinctions, provide ꧒important clues as to the identification of t♚he artist.  The underdrawing is drawn with a brush and executed with great confidence.  The artist has made numerous revisions as he worked, altering the folds of the drapery, particularly at the lower right, and subtley changing the position of the figures as he finishes the composition.   He raises the Virgin's head slightly and reworks the Christ Child's toes and fingers (fig. 1).  The remarkable freedom of the underdrawing points to the artist being a master in his own right and not a studio hand simply copying a design by Bouts.  

While it is difficult to make a precise attribution, it has been suggested that both the finished work and the underdrawing are consistent with a French artist, or a Flemish artist working in France, being the author of the Virgin and Child holding a Carnation.  Artists in the circle of the Master of Moulins and the Master of Saint Giles might be considered in this context. 🐈 

We are g🍷rateful t🐻o Till Holger Borchert for his help in preparing this note.  

1.  M.J. Friedländer, Early Netherlandish Painting,  vol. III, Dieric Bouts and Joos van Gent, New York and Washington, D.C., 1968, pp. 72-73, nos. 93, 93a-93c, reproduced plate 97.
2.  Ibid.