Virgin And Child

Black pencil on tracing paper Stamp with the artist's initials CAG at the bottom center (cut out) Renaissance style frame in molded ebonite decorated with cherubs, foliage and mascaroons

Doubly crowned, long curly hair and melancholy inclined head, this Virgin with the The Child drawn by Gastine after an engraving by Hans Baldung, formerly attributed to Albrecht Dürer, is of great majesty. Modestly seated on a small grassy embankment on the ground outside the village shown in the background, Mary holds Jesus in her cloak on her knees, his little hand reaching towards his collar. Royal in appearance and richly dressed, the Virgin lovingly cuddles and protects her Child. The interest shown in this theme by the Nordic engravers and painters of the 16th century is reinforced by the religious context and the cult of the Virgin which was then at its peak across the Rhine, a few years before the Reformation.

Fig.1. Hans Baldung, The Virgin and Child, circa 1505, wood engraving, first state proof, 235 x 159 mm, Department of Graphic Arts, Louvre Museum, Edmond de Rothschild Collection, Inv. L 36 LR/185 Recto.