Gerard David (1460-1523), the well-known Flemish painter, succeeded Hans Memling as the leading painter of Bruges. David is generally considered the last of the great Netherlandish primitives artists. He may have studied with Geertgen to Sint Jans or with Albert van Ouwater in Haarlem. In 1484 he was admitted to the painters' guild in Bruges.
David painted two panels entitled “The Judgment of Cambyses” (1498, Groeningemuseum, Bruges), conceived as a lesson in justice and executed for the council room of the Town Hall of Bruges. This is the first known, dated work by David.
In 1509 he donated to the Carmelite Convent at Bruges the painting “Virgin and Child” (1509, Musee des Beaux-Arts, Rouen). In this painting the virgin and child are surrounded by female saints; portraits of the artist and his wife are also a part of the work.
In the formulation of his style, David borrowed elements from almost all the great masters of 15th-century Netherlandish painting, including Robert Campin, Jan van Eyck and Hugo van der Goes. Consequently, his paintings are sometimes said to have an archaic feeling about them. It is more likely, however, that he enjoyed painting grand, solemn figures with restrained gestures and emotions and immobilized in static compositions. Within the northern tradition of realism, David's work sometimes suggests the balanced and harmonious painting of the classically oriented Italian Renaissance.