Art Institute of Chicago

Virgin and Child

Jan Gossart (Netherlandish, c. 1478–1532)

Date

c. 1520

Medium

Oil on panel

Culture

Netherlands

Department

Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

The first Netherlandish painter known to have studied Classical sculpture in Rome, Jan Gossart here fused the vocabulary of the Italian Renaissance with a traditional Netherlandish diptych (two-panel) format. The Virgin Mary’s draperies and the child’s athletic figure show Gossart’s command of the new Renaissance style perfected by Italian artists Michelangelo and Raphael . The glance and blessing gesture of the infant Jesus are directed beyond the picture to the right, suggesting that the panel was once joined by another depicting a donor in prayer. Earlier Netherlandish patrons favored this construction of paired, hinged panels for portable altarpieces.

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