Known asThe Virgin and Child with Saints Louis and Margaret, this bizarre depiction of Jesus and Mary was painted by an anonymous artist and is believed to have been created circa 1510 in either the Netherlands or Belgium.
The National Gallery , LondonThe Virgin and Child with Saints Louis and Margaretis full of fascinating and bizarre details .
The National Gallery in London has just purchased a striking 16th - century house painting for $ 22 million . That alone is n’t all that unusual . But the painting itself certainly is , as is the fact that no one make love who painted it .
The house painting , The Virgin and Child with Saints Louis and Margaretis full of the form of religious imagery that often come out in artwork of this era . But it also has a number of strange item , admit a drooling Draco - frankfurter and a small “ bawdy ” cherub present its behind .
The National Gallery, LondonThe Virgin and Child with Saints Louis and Margaretis full of fascinating and bizarre details.
For now , the provenance of the painting stay a mystery — though experts have a few conjecture about who created it .
The Bizarre Details OfThe Virgin And Child With Saints Louis And Margaret
fit in to astatement from the National Gallery , London , The Virgin and Child with Saints Louis and Margaretlooks like many painting of its geological era at first glance , and contains a number of spiritual symbols . In the painting , theVirgin Maryand Jesus , as a child , are flank by the French King Louis IX , also recognize as Saint Louis , and Saint Margaret . Margaret seems to emerge unflurried from a drooling immature dragon , a nod to a story of how she was take back by a dragon ( Satan ) then escape when her hybridization annoy the dragon ’s stomach .
But in addition to these more received spiritual detail , the painting also contains “ iconographic oddness ” and “ wildly inventive particular . ”
PA Images / Alamy Stock PhotoTwo people take a facial expression at theThe Virgin And Child With Saints Louis And Margaretat the National Gallery in London .
PA Images/Alamy Stock PhotoTwo people take a look at theThe Virgin And Child With Saints Louis And Margaretat the National Gallery in London.
For starters , the Virgin and Child are standing upon unsheathed wooden stairs which “ stand out dramatically in this first-class setting , ” and the nail see therein may foreshadowthe crucifixion . Saint Louis ’ scepter also contains unknown “ squirming figure ” that are perhaps a symbol of the Last Judgement , while Saint Margaret ’s braid hairsbreadth , jacket of daisy , and accompanying peacenik are likewise all unusual theme .
In addition , the house painting also includes an Angel Falls play a mouth harmonica . The National Gallery notes that this is “ a speech sound hardly associate with celestial harmony ” and a “ rare happening in medieval iconography . ” And while the decorations atop the pillars in the background of the house painting seem to show well - known moments from the Old Testament , they also depict “ more obscure and even surprisingly bawdy subjects , ” admit an “ unruly ” putto , or cherub , who is showing his bottom to the witness and is believe to be break wind .
Despite these strange details , the house painting was clearly done by a gifted artist who aimed to “ dazzle ” their audience . And prowess experts have a few guesses about who the secret painter could be .
Public DomainThe painter behindThe Virgin And Child With Saints Louis And Margaretmay be Jan Gossaert, a 16th-century Netherlandish painter.
Who Created This Bizarre Painting Bought By The National Gallery For $22 Million?
Public DomainThe cougar behindThe Virgin And Child With Saints Louis And Margaretmay be Jan Gossaert , a 16th - century Netherlandish painter .
Though many questions about theThe Virgin and Child with Saints Louis and Margaretremain , an in - depth study of the house painting answered some of these . Experts in dendrochronology , which looks at tree rings to estimate old age , found that the Sir Henry Wood in the house painting intimate that it was made after 1483 . The woodwind instrument is also made with Baltic oak tree , which suggests that the artist was not Gallic ( because Gallic artists often used locally sourced oak ) .
Excluding French candidates like Jean Hey , the style of the picture is evocative of Netherlandish creative person like Jan van Eyck , Hugo van der Goes , and , specially , Jan Gossaert .
“ The dramatically foreshortened faces of the nonesuch and angels are evocative of some of [ Gossaert ’s ] early drawing , ” the National Gallery noted .
“ Both artists also used interchangeable underdrawing technique , especially the way of chalk out the ocular cavities , the brass knuckles , the shading of the Virgin ’s forehead , and the absence of wash . The eccentricity that permeate the dialog box also recall Gossaert ’s manner . However , the facture ofThe Virgin and Child with Saints Louis and Margaret and Two Angelsis generally less frizzly , and no definitive conclusions can be drawn from these observations . ”
The gallery ca n’t key the artist for sure . All they know is that it was probably paint around 1510 , because the chain of the Order of Saint Michael worn by Saint Louis was modified in 1516 . It was first documented at the urban priory of the Premonstratensian Abbey of Drongen in Ghent in 1602 . While it ’s unknown if the painting rise at the abbey , the Premonstratensians did revere Saint Louis and a swan , which appears in the picture , was also in the monastery ’s coat of arms .
For now — perhaps forever — the house painting will continue anonymous . But the National Gallery observe that it ’s a good example of art historian ’ “ tendency to focus on names ” and shows that in the late medieval and Renaissance period “ anonymity can intersect with extraordinary calibre . ”
After reading about the bizarre anonymous painting , The Virgin and Child with Saints Louis and Margaret , discoverthe stories of seven surrealist artistsand their most illustrious painting . Then , learn aboutArtemisia Gentileschi , the Italian Baroque painter who make sensational paintings of distaff revenge after her rapist walked destitute .
