THE Bowes Museum's acquisition of a 15th century Flemish masterpiece with the help of £2.3m funding is to be celebrated with a display, Image and Substance, which opens next weekend.

St Luke Drawing the Virgin and Child, attributed to the workshop of Dieric Bouts the Elder, is of major importance.

It was acquired in the summer following an export bar, with £1.99m from the Heritage Lottery Fund plus a grant from the Art Fund and private donations. The introductory display opens on Saturday, November 12.

Bouts the Elder is deemed one of the leading and most influential Netherlandish painters of his time and, with Hans Memling, is considered the most important follower of Rogier van der Weyden.

The privately owned painting was in the collection of the National Trust’s Penrhyn Castle before it was sold to an overseas buyer. Attribution followed a scientific investigation project led by the conservation department at the National Gallery in London.

Bouts’ works are rare, especially in the UK. There are no other paintings of this date and origin depicting this subject in British public collections by him or any other northern European artist of the period.

The Bowes Museum has embarked on a partnership with York Art Gallery and Bristol Museum and Art Gallery to deliver activities surrounding the painting, which will tour to those venues.

The display focuses on the picture's relevance and offers an insight into the Netherlands’ artistic, historical and devotional context. It will examine technique and style and show video footage of the National Gallery investigations.

Bernadette Petti, assistant keeper of fine art, said: “The painting will have a significant place in the Bowes Museum collection and represents a major addition to the cultural heritage of the region,"

The Renaissance devotional subject is based on the legend of the apostle and evangelist St Luke depicting the Virgin with the Christ Child.

The painting, which also reveals insights into workshop practice and the changing status of the artist at that time, is likely to boost cultural tourism in the region and encourage research into late medieval and early modern European culture, as well as into social and cultural interactions between the North and the Low Countries.

Image and Substance, St Luke Drawing the Virgin and Child, runs until Sunday, January 8.