The Virgin and Child with an Angel

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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Notes

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The design of this tender image of the Virgin Mary with the Christ Child and an angel is derived from a picture by Fra Filippo Lippi, the Florentine painter and monk. It was a popular composition in Florence and there are numerous versions of it by different artists. The semi-transparent veil with its rippling folds is particularly similar to Lippi’s version, as are the thick blond waves of Christ’s hair.

A vaulted arch frames both the figures in the foreground and the landscape in the background. Its ceiling is is made up of sunken square panels, a form of decoration found in many classical buildings. It was revived in the Renaissance for church architecture and so it would have been familiar to worshippers.

Pictures like this, which stressed the Virgin’s maternal bond with the infant Christ, were popular for private worship in the home.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

The Virgin and Child with an Angel

Date

about 1480

Medium

Egg on poplar

Measurements

H 69.9 x W 48.3 cm

Accession number

NG589

Acquisition method

Bought, 1857

Work type

Painting

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Normally on display at

The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

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