The Virgin and Child
(mid 15th century-late 15th century)

FLANDERS

Gallery location: 14th - 16th Century Gallery - Painting & Decorative Arts
Level 1, NGV International

About this work

The Early Netherlandish master Jan van Eyck (c. 1395–1441) achieved a refinement of illusionistic detail never seen before in oil painting. He was also one of the first artists to develop religious imagery showing the Virgin and Child in more recognisable interiors. This was a departure from the flatter Gothic/Byzantine tradition of representing figures isolated from any believable spatial context. A number of motifs present in this small panel are identifiably in the manner of van Eyck, and for many years the painting was attributed to him. The influence of other Netherlandish masters, including Robert Campin and Rogier van der Weyden, can also be discerned here.

Artwork Details

Medium

oil on wood panel

Measurements

26.3 × 19.4 cm

Inscription

inscribed in black paint CŌPLETV (line above V) ĀNO D / MCCCCXXXIIJ (circle above M, fourth C and J) / P IOHEM DE EYC / BRUGIS
inscribed in black paint ĀAC / IXĀ / XĀN
(translation) (Completed in the year of Our Lord 1433 by Johannes de Eyc, Bruges / As I can)

Accession Number

1275-3

Department

International Painting

Credit Line

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1923
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited

Gallery location

14th - 16th Century Gallery - Painting & Decorative Arts
Level 1, NGV International

Subjects (general)

Human Figures Relationships and Interactions Religion and Mythology

Subjects (specific)

Blessed Virgin Mary (Christian character) Christ Child (Christian theme) infants Madonna and Child (Christian theme) mothers reading (activity) shawls women (female humans)

Movements

Renaissance

Frame

By F. A. Pollak, London, 1954

Frame

The Virgin and Child, (acc. No. 1275-3) acquired in 1922, was framed with a Gothic Revival frame from the time of acquisition through to the 1950’s. The painting appears in this frame in a newspaper clipping from the Sun newspaper, 16 September, 1949.
The reframing of the painting dates to 1954. It was made by Frederick Pollak in London, during the directorship of Daryl Lindsay.
The Gothic revival frame removed at the time has not been recovered.
The Pollak frame has been made with the corner joints filled and is gilded to all surfaces. The gilding appears to have been laid on to fabric, cracked and distressed and then glued to the wooden substrate of the frame. This technique to produce the appearance of aged cracking in the gilded surfaces can leave the direction of the cracking contrary to the grain of the timber. It nevertheless creates the broad impression of the frame being aged rather than new.
This is one of five frames by Pollak made for the collection and one of two remaining with their paintings, the other being with Tiepolo's The Banquet of Cleopatra.

Frame Details

Framemaker: Frederick Pollak
London
Date: 1954
Materials: timber, fabric, gold leaf

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The Virgin and Child (mid 15th century-late 15th century) FLANDERS

Artwork Details

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The Virgin and Child
(mid 15th century-late 15th century)

FLANDERS