Virgin and Child (after van der Goes?)

Virgin and Child (or Virgin and Child with Prayer Wings) is a small c. 1485–1490 double-hinged oil on oak triptych with a central panel by a follower or workshop member of the Flemish painter Hugo van der Goes or Gerard David. The work is currently held in the National Gallery, London with the central panel in its original frame. The central image is a tightly cropped and intimate portrayal of Mary cradling the infant Jesus, who plays with a red rosary tied around his neck.

The work is a composite, probably assembled in the 19th century by an art dealer, with the framed central panel inserted into an altarpiece triptych which probably dates from c. 1500. The centre panel bears evidence that it was slightly planed down to fit into the frame. It is probably based on a then-popular and heavily copied Flemallesque Virgin and Child, the original of which is lost but known through numerous paintings and woodcuts.

The center panel has been attributed to a number of Early Netherlandish painters, including Rogier van der Weyden, Gerard David and van der Goes. It was completed at a time when the copying or adapting of works by the great Netherlandish painters was commonplace and a thriving, well paid industry. As the 15th century progressed, copying progressed from mere reproduction of the basic designs to a more complicated and involved process whereby works adapted elements from older works but established them with the particular artist's own vision. This panel is especially interesting in this regard, it has been described as "executed in Gerard David's painting style after a work which, due to facial type, might be attributed to van der Goes, who in turn depended compositionally on an iconic model, perhaps that in Cambrai or one of its numerous northern copies. Here is copy upon copy, each slightly transformed through personal style and artistic feeling."