Virgin and Child Enthroned
The Virgin and Child Enthroned is a small oil-on-oak panel painting dated c. 1433. It is usually attributed to the Early Netherlandish artist Rogier van der Weyden. The panel is filled with Christian iconography, including representations of prophets, the Annunciation, Christ’s infancy and resurrection, and Mary’s Coronation.
About Virgin and Child Enthroned in brief
The Virgin and Child Enthroned is a small oil-on-oak panel painting dated c. 1433, usually attributed to the Early Netherlandish artist Rogier van der Weyden. The panel is filled with Christian iconography, including representations of prophets, the Annunciation, Christ’s infancy and resurrection, and Mary’s Coronation. It is one of three works attributed to him of the Virgin and child enclosed in a niche on an exterior wall of a Gothic church. The painting pays very close attention to small realistic detail; for example, there are four small holes above each arch, likely to hold scaffolding. An iris grows to the side of the Passion, representing the Virgin’s sorrow, and on the other side a columbine, recalling the Virgin of Sorrows, is again a symbolic use of flowers. The work is rich in symbolism and to an extent far more pronounced than that in The Madonna Standing, which is more pronounced in its iconography. It takes influence from Robert Campin and Jan van Eyck, and is housed in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid.
The Virgin is shown seated in a small Gothic chapel or oratory projecting from a wall and opening onto a lawn. She wears a crown as Queen of Heaven and a ring on a finger as the Bride of Christ. The chapel is unrealistically small compared to the Virgin, but this was to emphasise the Virgin’s presence while also symbolically representing the Church and the entire doctrine of the Redemption. There are symmetrical differences between the left- and right-hand sides of the painting, most noticeable with the buttress, where the receding edges are over half again the size of those on the front sides. This was probably the effect that van Der Weyden was seeking that the architectural setting was incongruous with the motherhood and Adoration of the Magi, associated with the Nativity and Magihood, are associated with motherhood, and motherhood is associated with infancy and Adihood.
You want to know more about Virgin and Child Enthroned?
This page is based on the article Virgin and Child Enthroned published in Wikipedia (as of Oct. 31, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
