03 — ARTWORK
Virgin and Child before a Curtain
- MEDIUM
- Oil on panel, 75 x 56 cm
- TYPE
- Religious
PALETTE
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- FILE
- 800 × 1037 px · JPEG
COMMENTARY
UNDERLINED TERMS ARE DEFINED IN THE GLOSSARY.
Virgin and Child before a Curtain c. 1512 Oil on panelTerm in painting for a support of wood, metal, or other rigid substance, as distinct from canvas. Until the adoption of canvas in the 15th century nearly all the movable paintings of Europe were executed on wood, and even up to the beginning of the 17th century it is probable that as much painting was done on the one support as on the other. Painters who worked on a small scale often used copper panels (Elsheimer is a leading example), and in the colonial art of South America copper and tin and even lead and zinc were used. On a larger scale, slate has occasionally been used as a support, notably by Rubens for his altarpiece for Sta Maria in Vallicella (the Chiesa Nuova) in Rome; the picture he originally painted was said to reflect the light unpleasantly and slate was used for the replacement to produce a more matt finish. For wood panels the Italian masters of the Renaissance preferred white poplar, while oak was the most common wood used in northern Europe. Many other types were used, however; analysis of the contents of art galleries has yielded a long list, including beech, cedar, chestnut, fir, larch, linden, mahogany, olive, and walnut. In the 20th century cedar, teak, and dark walnut are favourites, and modern painters have also used plywood, fibre-board, and other synthetic materials as supports., 75 x 56 cm Private collection
In this panel, the painter retains the frontal pose of the Raphaelesque Madonna favoured in his early works, however, the position of the Christ Child, who leans in to embrace his mother while inclining his head and gazing to the right, brings an advanced sense of interaction and immediacy to the composition. Noteworthy is the precision of the mountainous landscape beyond, with its intricate representation of grass and foliage.
CITE THIS RECORD — BIBTEX
@online{wga-r46f71bfb79d027,
author = {Krén, Emil and Marx, Daniel},
title = {Virgin and Child before a Curtain by GAROFALO},
organization = {{Web Gallery of Art}},
date = {2026-09-09},
url = {https://beta.wga.hu/artists/garofalo-rdcc5f4e65e3baf/virgin-and-child-before-a-curtain-r46f71bfb79d027},
urldate = {2026-09-09},
langid = {english}
}ACCESSED 2026-09-09. REPLACE THE AUTHOR FIELD WITH THE COMMENTARY AUTHOR WHERE ONE IS NAMED.
