ARTWORKS

The Virgin and Child with Four Saints

Francesco Bonsignori (c.1460–1519)

The National Gallery, London

The Virgin and Child with Four Saints

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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The Virgin holds the infant Christ close to her, drawing his cheek to her face. The pair are flanked by four saints. We can't be sure of their identities, but the one holding a book wears the brown robes of the Franciscans, a religious order of friars.The tender pose of mother and son derives from Byzantine (Eastern Christian) icons, but this version -- Mary cradling Christ, who is partly wrapped in swaddling bands and has his eyes open -- comes from an engraving by Mantegna. Archival documents suggest that Bonsignori probably knew it from his time working for the court of the Marquess of Mantua, where Mantegna had also worked.The composition as a whole -- its horizontal shape, the dark background and the arrangement of the figures -- is also Mantegna's invention, found, for example, in his Presentation of Christ (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin).

The National Gallery, London

London

Read more on The National Gallery, London
Title

The Virgin and Child with Four Saints

Date

about 1490-1510

Medium

Oil on canvas

Measurements

H 48.3 x W 106.7 cm

Accession number

NG3091

Acquisition method

Layard Bequest, 1916

Work type

Painting

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Normally on display at

The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

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Artist or maker

Francesco Bonsignori

c.1460–1519

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