# The Education of the Virgin [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [JOUVENET, Jean-Baptiste]() - Date: 1651-1700 - Technique: Oil on canvas ## Commentary The Golden Legend, drawing on the apocryphal gospels, tells how the Virgin Mary was brought up as a child in the Temple at Jerusalem 'with other virgins'...and was visited daily of angels', since it had been foretold to her parents, Joachim and Anne, that their daughter was to be consecrated to the Lord as the 'chosen vessel' of Christ's Incarnation. The theme became popular in the 16th century and remained so after the Counter-Reformation in spite of some disapproval by the Church because of its apocryphal character. Mary is seen in earlier examples teaching her young companions, sewing the priest vestments or being ministered to by angels who bring bread and water. But the favourite theme, especially in Counter-Reformation art, depicts her education in the strict sense, at the knee of her mother Anne, learning to read. You can view <A onclick="return OpenOther\('/cgi-bin/search.cgi?author=&title=%22Education+of+the+Virgin%22&comment=&time=any&school=any&form=any&type=any&location=&header=0&other=0&caption=Depictions+of+the+Education+of+the+Virgin'\)" HREF="/cgi-bin/search.cgi?author=&title=%22Education+of+the+Virgin%22&comment=&time=any&school=any&form=any&type=any&location=&header=0&other=0&caption=Depictions+of+the+Education+of+the+Virgin">other depictions</A> of the Education of the Virgin in the Web Gallery of Art. ## Related artworks - [Apollo and the Chariot of the Sun]() - [Christ in the House of Simon]() - [Descent from the Cross]() - [Dr Raymond Finot]() - [Magnificat]() - [Portrait of an Unknown Man]() - [The Miraculous Draught]() - [The Raising of Lazarus]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()