-
The Virgin and Child
unknown - Enlarge image
The Virgin and Child
- Object:
Window
- Place of origin:
Flemish, Belgium (made)
- Date:
ca. 1595 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Stained glass
- Museum number:
293:1, 2-1874
- Gallery location:
Sacred Silver & Stained Glass, room 83, case BAY4
This panel shows the Virgin and Child on the left. On the right a young female figure is shown kneeling, her hands joined in prayer. A saint stands over the girl and steps forward to present her to the Virgin and Child. The saint holds a chalice, which identifies him as St John the Evangelist. The girl is richly dressed in gold brocade with a mantle emblazoned with a Spanish coat of arms, that of León-Castile and Aragón. This, combined with the presence of St John - clearly a patron saint - indicates that she is either Joanna of Castile or one of her daughters.
Joanna was the daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. She was born in 1479 and married Philip the Fair of the Netherlands in 1496. She is represented in glass, with her husband, at Saint-Gommaire in Lierre, in Brussels Cathedral and at Sainte-Waudru at Mons. In these windows, she kneels in prayer with her patron saint at her side. At Lierre and Mons her daughters are shown behind her.
The figure in the Victoria and Albert Museum panel, however, is no more than a young girl. It is perhaps more likely that she represents Joanna's first daughter, Eleanor, who was born in 1498. She was shown in just this attitude, with St John the Evangelist standing above her and her mother and a younger sister kneeling in front of her, in another window in the church of Notre-Dame de Sablon in Brussels. This window is now lost.
The figure in the V&A panel, however, is no more than a young girl. It is perhaps more likely that she represents Joanna's first daughter, Eleanor, who was born in 1498. She was shown in just this attitude, with St John the Evangelist standing above her and her mother and a younger sister kneeling in front of her, in another window in the church of Notre-Dame de Sablon in Brussels. This window is now lost.
