Gerard David

Gerard David was the last great painter of the Bruges school. His religious panels are calm and quiet, with gentle, rounded faces, rich but soft colour, and wooded landscapes full of light and shadow.

He was born around 1460 in Oudewater, in Holland, and moved to Bruges in 1483. After Hans Memling died in 1494 he became the city’s leading painter. His Judgement of Cambyses, a grim story of a corrupt judge punished, and his Triptych of the Baptism of Christ are both in the Groeninge Museum in Bruges. The Virgin among the Virgins, the only work documented as his, is in Rouen. He was forgotten for centuries and only rediscovered in the nineteenth century.

His Adoration of the Magi and the panels of the Annunciation show his quiet sense of devotion. Look at the fine landscapes and the soft light on faces. He died in Bruges in 1523.