The Madonna and Child

The Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641) captures the Virgin Mary in a dramatic moment of heightened emotion, as she gazes heavenward with moist, translucent eyes. She gathers the naked infant Christ towards her, holding a white cloth to his little belly and surrounding him protectively with her swirling blue cloak behind. Her hand is tucked tenderly beneath his arm. The fair-haired child looks out towards the right of the picture and holds onto the Virgin’s left breast as if to steady himself as he stands. His clasped hand is next to a golden brooch that depicts a seraph. Seraphim – according to the Christian tradition – are the first in the hierarchy of angels and dwell next to God’s throne in heaven, a fitting symbol to be included alongside the Madonna and Child. Mary wears a voluminous red dress, the undulating folds of the rustling fabric highlighted with white paint. Merging with the white cloth and the blue mantle, this expanse of red, white and blue fabric lends a monumental, sculptural quality to the figures, set against the dark background. The right-hand side of the painting is occupied by the base of a classical column while its fallen capital, with its scroll-like decoration in the classical ionic style, is glimpsed in the lower right-hand corner. The Virgin’s cloak is thrown over the capital and the Christ child stands upon it. Just visible, behind the scroll of the stone capital, a face looms out of the shadows. This is perhaps the head of a gorgon, a mythological monster whose direct stare could turn a person to stone according to ancient Greek legend. Van Dyck contrasts the pagan imagery of the gorgon's stare with the Madonna’s ethereal gaze towards the heavenly realm.  

This painting was completed shortly after Van Dyck’s stay in Italy (1621-27), when he had returned to his hometown of Antwerp, Flanders (modern day Belgium) to become court painter to the Archduchess Isabella (1566-1633). During Van Dyck’s six years in Italy, he had travelled to Venice, Genoa, and to Sicily. In Sicily, he was trapped in the capital city of Palermo during an outbreak of the plague in 1624-25. It was there that he painted the city’s patron saint, Saint Rosalia, five times; a series of works bearing clear similarities to this Madonna and Child, through the exaggerated pose and heightened sentiment. This is one of the best versions of a much-repeated composition by Van Dyck and his studio, from which numerous copies and replicas were made. The top of the painting was added around the turn of the nineteenth century, likely an aesthetic choice made by the Gallery’s founders Francis Bourgeois (1753-1833) and Noel Desenfans (1741-1807) to form a symmetrical pendant to hang alongside Charity.