Master of the Virgo inter Virgines,
last fourth of the 15th century
Lamentation
Oil on Panel - 79 x 65 cm
Enghien, Hôpital Saint-Nicolas
Photo : Cercle Archéologique d’Enghien
20/5/13 - Art sale - Enghien (Wallonia), Saint Nicolas Hospital - Readers might remember the plan to sell the painting The Soler Family by Picasso in Liège (January 1989-March 1990) or, more recently in the spring of 2012, the suggestion, though with little media coverage, made by the alderman for Culture in the city of Tournai at the time, to sell off one of the two Fantin-Latour paintings at the Musée des Beaux-Arts. Fortunately, the last project had provoked the ire of the Ministre régional de la Culture of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, Fadila Laana, who during a parliamentary session of the Communauté française in April of that same year, had asserted that "she would never authorize any museum located in the Communauté française to cede certain works in order to finance potential renovation or extension work", adding that the sale of museum works runs contrary to the decrees which apply in the Communauté française in Belgium.
Today, the Board of Directors of the CPAS (Centre public d’aide social) of the city of Enghien is seriously considering the deaccessioning of the most valuable piece in its collections, the panel of the Lamentation by the Master of the Virgo inter Virgines to reduce its deficit and meet current expenses. This Thursday, 23 May, the question of whether the painting should be sold will be discussed at the Municipal Council meeting in Enghien. Supporters in defense of heritage will fight the initiative.
To refresh everyone’s memory, the Master of the Virgo inter Vergines is an anonymous painter who was active in the former Low Countries in the last fourth of the 15th century. Less than twenty paintings, scattered throughout the world’s leading museums, have been attributed to him. The only painting by this artist in Belgium is precisely the one residing in Enghien. It was donated by Sister Rosalie Carion in 1815 when she joined the community of Soeurs hospitalières of Saint Augustine. The work has decorated the Saint Nicolas hospital for one and a half centuries and was restored at extensive cost by the Institut Royal du Patrimoine artistique in 1968 before the hospital became the headquarters for the CPAS of Enghien [1].
About a year ago a discreet inquiry into the estimated market value of the painting was addressed to a prestigious English auction house. A very attractive amount was quoted. Since then, this sum has been turning heads in the city. Besides the financial arguments put forward to justify the need of selling this artistic treasure, the persons behind the project have formulated even more surprising excuses. The fact that the artist is Dutch - which remains to be proven -, would mean that this would not be detrimental to the cultural heritage of Enghien ! This is the same as if Bruges were to sell Michelangelo’s Virgin with Child because he is Italian and not Flemish or like Liège and Tournai, with the Spanish Picasso and the French Fantin-Latour. Also, the sale would not really mean much to the city since the persons supporting the project claim that 98% of the residents of the city did not even know the painting existed. One of the reasons for this being perhaps that although Enghien owns a very rich artistic heritage, envied probably by other medium-sized cities in Wallonia, it practically no longer has a museum with a clearly designated curator or administrator to educate the public concerning a museum’s various missions, preserve its heritage, provide research facilities and act as a depository of collective memory.
Some valuable art works of the CPAS, such as the Lamentation by the Master of the Virgo inter Virgines have been installed in a room with a reinforced door inside the Maison Jonathas, which is in fact supposed to be a museum for the city but which provides very limited access for the general public making it difficult to enter.
The sale of the painting is currently being considered by the city of Enghien and has stirred up a controversy. The Société royale archéologique of Enghien, consulted for its opinion, of course expressed its opposition to the idea. Will they be heard ? Alas, this masterpiece seems to be ill-fated. Owned by a municipal institution of social welfare, it cannot fall under the regulations prohibiting the principle - more of a custom than a law- of deaccessioning cultural assets belonging to a museum. There is indeed a decree issued by the Communauté française on 11 July 2002 which concerns only the listing of major art works of Wallonian heritage, at most a few objects in each museum. Strangely enough, the Lamentation by the Master of the Virgo inter Virgines has until now eluded the attention of heritage officials and can thus be sold without any obstacles. This work is however a major element of Wallonian heritage. It is the most important painting of a "Primitive of the Low Countries" in the Region ! German and Dutch museums have already expressed an interest in acquiring it.
Is there any hope of a moral and visionary awakening of the municipal authorities in Enghien to make them aware of the disastrous consequences of the sale of this invaluable artistic treasure in terms of the resulting image for them, the city itself, the Region and the Communauté française, all of which have been duly warned ? The Société royale archéologique of Enghien has already scheduled a one day international seminar in its activities program in order to study this masterpiece.
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