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Museo del Prado presents The Agony in the Garden with the Donor Louis I d’Orleans

Museo del Prado presents The Agony in the Garden with the Donor Louis I d’Orleans (1405-1407/1408) a previously unpublished work acquired by the Museum in 2012.

The Agony in the GardenThe Agony in the Garden with the Donor Louis d’Orléans, Colart de Laon? Egg tempera, 56.5 x 42 cm, 1405 -07 – 1408, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado

Following a lengthy process of restoration it will now be placed on display in the permanent galleries and represents a major contribution to the field of Early French Painting. The aesthetic and pictorial merit of the painting, recently restored with the sponsorship of Fundación Iberdrola, combined with the rarity of works from this school, make this panel a unique example of enormous historical importance given that it is the only known panel painting to depict Louis d’Orléans. With a possible attribution to Colart de Laon, Louis’ painter and valet de chambre, the panel will be presented in a special display until 28 April in Room 58A, alongside X-radiograph and Infra-red reflectograph images of it and a video that shows the different stages of its restoration.

The identification of the donor has also allowed for the suggestion that the panel was painted by Colart de Laon (documented 1377-1411) who was painter and valet de chambre to Louis d’Orléans from 1391 until the Duke’s death in 1407 then maintained this position in the service of Louis’ son, Charles d’Orléans. Although his paintings are now lost, documentary research confirms Colart de Laon as one of the most important painters working in early 15th-century France and the creator of numerous works for the 1st Duke of Orléans. www.museodelprado.es

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