active around 1495 - died in 1531 · Avignon and Provence

Marian story, familiar gestures and Provençal color distinguish Nicolas Dipre in Avignon painting around 1500.

Nicolas Dipre is a painter active in Provence at the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th century, who died in 1531. His work developed in the middle of Avignon, a crossroads where French, Flemish and Italian traditions meet. Three small panels today at the Louvre - Meeting of Anne and Joachim at the Golden Gate, Birth of the Virgin and Presentation of the Virgin at the Temple - probably belonged to the predella of an altarpiece dedicated to the life of Mary. The Louvre compares these episodes to other panels scattered across Denver, Detroit, San Francisco, Pont-Saint-Esprit and in a private collection due to their dimensions and initial braced shape. In the Birth of the Virgin, the sacred event takes the form of a room animated by care, linen and exchanges between women. The Meeting at the Golden Door concentrates emotion in the embrace of Mary's future parents. The Presentation at the Temple organizes the child's ascent up the stairs. Dipre thus advances the story through architecture, movement and daily detail. The "Nicolas Dipre" selection notably compares Meeting of Anne and Joachim at the Golden Door and Birth of the Virgin. His reading favors drawing.

Dipre brings sacred history closer to human experience: bedroom, staircase and embrace become the simple places where the destiny of the Virgin begins.