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Shown under an ornately carved stone arch, a young woman holds a baby on her lap as she sits on a curving gold chair flanked by two kneeling angels in this vertical painting. All of the people have pale skin. The woman has long blond hair, a straight nose, and a small pink mouth. Her body faces us but she gazes down. She wears a gold-trimmed, deep blue robe under a crimson-red mantle that covers her shoulders and drapes over her lap and to the floor. She holds an open book with her left hand, on our right, and supports the sitting baby’s body with her other hand. The baby is nude except for a piece of white fabric across one thigh. The baby touches the open book with one hand and reaches toward a small, round piece of fruit the angel on our left offers. That angel has blond hair and sapphire-blue wings, and wears a pale blue garment under a red and gold patterned robe. The angel holds out the fruit with the right hand and in the other, holds an instrument like a violin and bow. The angel to our right has similar hair and facial features, and has blue wings and a sky-blue robe. Both hands strum a harp as the angel gazes to our left almost in profile. Behind the chair, a cloth patterned in pine green and gold hangs vertically from a curving red overhang between tall, narrow archways that open onto a landscape. In the distance, people move through green fields and along a river winding toward a castle to our left beneath a clear blue sky. The angels' wings overlap with the stone archway that frames the scene. It is carved along the inner edge of the arch with vines, lizards, and snails. Two columns flank the arch and atop each is a bearded man, as if carved from the same cream-colored stone of the arch. The man to our left holds a harp and the one to our right holds a saw. Winged, nude, child-like people, putti, hold orbs aloft in the upper corners.

Madonna and Child with Angels

Hans Memling

Shown under an ornately carved stone arch, a young woman holds a baby on her lap as she sits on a curving gold chair flanked by two kneeling angels in this vertical painting. All of the people have pale skin. The woman has long blond hair, a straight nose, and a small pink mouth. Her body faces us but she gazes down. She wears a gold-trimmed, deep blue robe under a crimson-red mantle that covers her shoulders and drapes over her lap and to the floor. She holds an open book with her left hand, on our right, and supports the sitting baby’s body with her other hand. The baby is nude except for a piece of white fabric across one thigh. The baby touches the open book with one hand and reaches toward a small, round piece of fruit the angel on our left offers. That angel has blond hair and sapphire-blue wings, and wears a pale blue garment under a red and gold patterned robe. The angel holds out the fruit with the right hand and in the other, holds an instrument like a violin and bow. The angel to our right has similar hair and facial features, and has blue wings and a sky-blue robe. Both hands strum a harp as the angel gazes to our left almost in profile. Behind the chair, a cloth patterned in pine green and gold hangs vertically from a curving red overhang between tall, narrow archways that open onto a landscape. In the distance, people move through green fields and along a river winding toward a castle to our left beneath a clear blue sky. The angels' wings overlap with the stone archway that frames the scene. It is carved along the inner edge of the arch with vines, lizards, and snails. Two columns flank the arch and atop each is a bearded man, as if carved from the same cream-colored stone of the arch. The man to our left holds a harp and the one to our right holds a saw. Winged, nude, child-like people, putti, hold orbs aloft in the upper corners.

Details
Palette

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Medium
oil on panel
Dimensions
painted surface: 57.6 × 46.4 cm (22 11/16 × 18 1/4 in.) overall (panel): 58.8 × 48 cm (23 1/8 × 18 7/8 in.) framed: 69.22 × 57.47 × 9.53 cm (27 1/4 × 22 5/8 × 3 3/4 in.)
Department
CNE-R
Holding institution
National Gallery of Art
Image provider
national-gallery-of-art
License
CC0-1.0
Credit
Andrew W. Mellon Collection

Art Genome Taxonomy

10 tags

Subject Matter

  • Madonna and Child Both · 100%

    The title identifies the subject as a Madonna and Child, and the image shows a central seated woman holding a child on her lap.

  • Deities and Holy Figures Both · 100%

    The title names angels, and two winged angelic figures are visibly kneeling beside the central Madonna and Child.

  • Related to Music Both · 99%

    The museum description identifies a harp and a violin-like instrument, both of which are clearly visible with the two angels.

  • Landscapes Both · 99%

    Landscape views with fields, waterways, trees, buildings, and distant architectural structures are visible through the openings behind the figures and are described in the museum metadata.

  • Interiors Visual · 96%

    The scene is organized within an architectural setting with columns, an arch, drapery, a chair, and a tiled floor, although the setting opens onto the landscape beyond.

Visual Qualities

  • Highly Detailed Visual · 99%

    The panel contains extensive fine detail in the carved arch, textiles, garments, instruments, tiled floor, figures, and distant landscape.

  • Bright and Vivid Colors Visual · 96%

    Strong crimson, deep blue, green, gold, and pale blue areas create a visibly rich and vivid color scheme.

Medium and Techniques

  • Oil Painting Metadata · 100%

    The catalog explicitly records the medium as oil on panel; the image alone cannot independently verify the medium.

  • Oil on Panel Metadata · 100%

    The supplied museum metadata explicitly identifies the support and medium as oil on panel.

Time Periods

  • 15th Century Art Metadata · 82%

    The museum date display is “after 1479,” supporting a broad late-fifteenth-century period classification but not an exact completion date.

Source & rights

Hans Memling. Madonna and Child with Angels. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.

Catalog record ↗ Image source ↗ Image license ↗ Image-use terms ↗ Catalog metadata terms ↗

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