Resurrection

c. 1455
Dieric Bouts (Flemish, c.1420–1475)
Distemper on linen
The Norton Simon Foundation

One of the leading Northern European artists of his generation, Dieric Bouts favored a contemplative approach to painting that embodied an austere, powerful spirituality. As Christ rises from the tomb, the drama and theatricality of the moment are stilled by His serene yet intent gaze and by the lyrical landscape background. The scene unfolds in front of a wide, placid expanse of land, depicted with a sure-handed knowledge of luminous, atmospheric perspective. Successful and revered in his lifetime for his approach to landscape painting as well as his half-figure images of the Madonna and Child, the Haarlem-born Bouts oversaw an active workshop in Louvain after the 1440s—that is, for the majority of his career. His work draws from a variety of Northern and Southern Netherlandish predecessors, most notably Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden.

The Resurrection belongs to a now-dismembered four- or five-part altarpiece that tells the story of the life of Jesus. Other pieces of the original ensemble are now at the National Gallery in London (The Entombment) and the Getty Museum in Los Angeles (The Annunciation). Like pastel, the medium—distemper on unprimed linen (in German, tüchlein)—is inherently delicate and its colors fugitive, which makes it all the more extraordinary that this early canvas has survived in such a remarkably well-preserved condition. Now discolored from hundreds of years of exposure to light and dirt, the sky was originally a colorful display of pinks and blue, still evident along the upper border where the canvas was protected by a previous frame. The same pattern is apparent in its companion picture at the London National Gallery.

Norton Simon the Collector

“I don’t know of a Northern Renaissance picture of this quality that has come on the market in all the years I’ve been collecting,” said Norton Simon in 1980, when he acquired this painting by Dieric Bouts. It was purchased at a Sotheby’s auction on April 16 of that year for $4,214,000, the most Simon had ever spent on a work of art. The acquisition was not without its theatrics. Simon proposed that he “have some fun” via a publicity stunt involving three empty envelopes supposedly containing his bidding instructions; his wife, Jennifer Jones Simon, in attendance at the auction; and Simon himself, bidding over the phone. It was eventually Simon who placed the highest bid. This story and more can be found in Suzanne Muchnic’s biography Odd Man In: Norton Simon and the Pursuit of Culture (first published in 1998, with a second edition in 2019).