Dieric Bouts
(Netherlandish, Haarlem, active by 1457–died 1475), Virgin and Child (ca.
1455–60) oil on wood, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) ■ Bouts has based this
image on the ancient Byzantine formula for the affectionate Virgin
("glykophilousa")—a type popular in the Netherlands. However, he has
endowed the painting with a human tenderness and simplicity not found in icons
and has dispensed with the gold background and halo of Byzantine practice ■