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Notes
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The tender pose of mother and son derives from Byzantine (Eastern Christian) icons, but this version – Mary cradling Christ, who is partly wrapped in swaddling bands and has his eyes open – comes from an engraving by Mantegna. Archival documents suggest that Bonsignori probably knew it from his time working for the court of the Marquess of Mantua, where Mantegna had also worked.
The composition as a whole – its horizontal shape, the dark background and the arrangement of the figures – is also Mantegna’s invention, found, for example, in his Presentation of Christ (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin).
Title
The Virgin and Child with Four Saints
Date
about 1490-1510
Medium
Oil on canvas
Measurements
H 48.3 x W 106.7 cm
Accession number
NG3091
Acquisition method
Layard Bequest, 1916
Work type
Painting
The National Gallery, London
Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England
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Captive Kings before a Judge York Art Gallery -
The Virgin and Child with Four Saints The National Gallery, London -
Portrait of an Elderly Man The National Gallery, London -
The Lamentation with a Benedictine Donor Ashmolean Museum, Oxford -
Madonna and Child with Saints Lawrence and Margaret of Antioch Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum