The Virgin and Child

The tenderness between the Mother and her Son is expressed in their gestures, like the hand of Jesus stroking Mary’s face. Their eyes do not meet, and the sadness of the faces is perhaps meant to foreshadow Christ’s sacrifice.
The figures are against a refined yellow curtain touched with gold and a landscape. The decorative pattern on the cloth consists of a large thistle flower, which also alludes to the Passion of Jesus. The painting is dominated by the red of the Virgin’s garment and the blue of her cloak. The planes of depth are defined simply and effectively, from the foreground close to the viewer with the parapet, on which rests an open prayer book, to the space occupied by the figures of the Virgin and Child, and so to the background with the landscape and the line of the far horizon.