Special thanks to the Microsoft Corporation for permission to use following biographical information from Microsoft® Encarta '97:
Gerard David was a Netherlandish painter, born in Oudewater (now in the Netherlands). After training in Haarlem, David settled in Bruges in 1484. He was strongly influenced by such early Flemish painters as Jan van Eyck and Hans Memling. David succeeded Memling as official painter of Bruges, where he remained, except for a period in Antwerp, until his death. His richly colored yet austere altarpieces and panels show his interest in representing volume and organizing figures in space. Outstanding examples are the two panels Judgment of Cambyses (1498, Musée Communal, Bruges, Belgium) and Virgin and Child with Angels and Saints (1509, Fine Arts Museum, Rouen, France).
