DAVID, GERARD [GHEERAERT DAVIT] Neth erlands painter, born at Oudewater, in Holland, was the last great master of the Bruges school. He was only rescued from complete oblivion in 186o-63 by W. J. H. Weale, whose researches in the archives of Bruges brought to light the main facts of the master's life. David came to Bruges in 1483, presumably from Haarlem, where he had formed his early style under the tuition of Ouwater; he joined the gild of St. Luke at Bruges in 1484, and became dean of the gild in 2502; he married, in 1496, Cornelia Cnoop, daughter of the dean of the Goldsmiths' gild ; became one of the leading citizens of the town; died on Aug. 13, 1523, and was buried in the Church of Our Lady at Bruges.
In his early work he had followed the Haarlem tradition as represented by Dirck Bouts, Ouwater and Geertgen of Haarlem, but already gave evidence of his superior power as colourist. To this early period belong the "St. John" of the Kaufmann collec tion in Berlin, and "St. Jerome" in the Salting collection (National Gallery, London). In Bruges he studied and copied masterpieces by the Van Eycks, Van der Weyden, and Van der Goes, and came under the direct influence of Hans Memlinc. From him he acquired the intensity of expression, the increased realism in the rendering of the human form and the orderly architectonic arrangement of the figures. In 1515 he visited Antwerp, and became impressed with the life and movement in the work of Quentin Matsys, who had introduced a more intimate and more human conception of sacred themes. David's "Pieta" in the National Gallery, and the "Descent from the Cross," in the Cavallo collection, Paris, were painted under this influence and are remarkable for their dramatic movement. But the works on which David's fame rests most securely are the great altar-pieces executed by him before his visit to Antwerp—the "Marriage of St. Catherine," at the National Gallery; the triptych of the "Ma donna Enthroned, and Saints" of the Brignole-Sale collection in Genoa; the "Annunciation" of the Sigmaringen collection; and, above all, the "Madonna with Angels and Saints" at Rouen. Of David's pupils in Bruges, only Isenbrandt, A. Cornelis and Am brosius Benson achieved importance. Among other Flemish paint ers, Joachim Patinir and Mabuse were to some degree influenced by him.
Eberhard Freiherr von Bodenhausen published in 1905 a very comprehensive monograph on Gerard David and his School (Mu nich, F. Bruckmann), together with a catalogue raisonne of his works, which, after careful sifting, are reduced to 43.