03 — ARTWORK
Virgin and Child
- MEDIUM
- Oil on oak panel, 39 x 30 cm
- TYPE
- Religious
PALETTE
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- FILE
- 944 × 1200 px · JPEG
COMMENTARY
UNDERLINED TERMS ARE DEFINED IN THE GLOSSARY.
This 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. is one of Gossart's most intimate and charming renditions of the Virgin and Child. While the skilful presentation of the tactile qualities of flesh and fabrics had been previously mastered in Netherlandish painting, the utterly human relationship between the Virgin and Child is entirely new. It is the result of the influence of Italian Renaissance examples, such as <a onclick="return OpenOther('/html/b/benedett/madonna.html')" href="/html/b/benedett/madonna.html">Benedetto da Maiano's reliefA sculptural work in which all or part projects from the flat surface. There are three basic forms: low relief (bas-relief, basso rilievo), in which figures project less than half their depth from the background; medium relief (mezzo-rilievo), in which figures are seen half round; and high relief (alto rilievo), in which figures are almost detached from their background.,</a> which provides a close parallel not only in terms of the composition and poses of the figures but also in the motif of the Child tugging playfully on the Virgin's scarf.
The Latin text at the upper curved edge (now barely visible), and the signature at the lower edge of the original frame are later additions.
CITE THIS RECORD — BIBTEX
@online{wga-rc21bcfd869f34c,
author = {Krén, Emil and Marx, Daniel},
title = {Virgin and Child by GOSSART, Jan},
organization = {{Web Gallery of Art}},
date = {2026-09-09},
url = {https://beta.wga.hu/artists/gossart-jan-r3dc6e56b5e425a/virgin-and-child-rc21bcfd869f34c},
urldate = {2026-09-09},
langid = {english}
}ACCESSED 2026-09-09. REPLACE THE AUTHOR FIELD WITH THE COMMENTARY AUTHOR WHERE ONE IS NAMED.
