Object Image

The Virgin adoring the Child

The Virgin Mary kneels on a grassy patch in the foreground, seemingly undisturbed by our intrusive gaze. Her hands are clasped in prayer as she faces her infant son, who is lying before her. His legs crossed, his right elbow resting on a pillow, he is focusing on something outside the picture.

A ruinous wall is just broken enough to reveal, as if through a window, two shepherds resting on a distant hill. One is playing the bagpipes, but it is a blue angel hovering mid-air that seems to wake the other. This is the Archangel Gabriel, delivering the message of Christ's birth.

We don't know who this painting was made for, but it is likely that it adorned a Florentine household, offering a visual ...

1490-1500
Oil on wood
86.4 x 60.3cm
NG648
Image and text © The National Gallery, London, 2024

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