ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
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| Follower of Robert Campin
Anonymous Artist
Campin, Robert
Netherlandish, c. 1375 - 1444
Madonna and Child with Saints in the Enclosed Garden
c. 1440/1460
oil on panel
painted surface: 119.8 x 148.5 cm (47 3/16 x 58 7/16 in.) overall (panel): 122.2 x 151.2 cm (48 1/8 x 59 1/2 in.) |
WASHINGTON, DC---This large panel painting by a follower of
Robert Campin combines the new interest in nature of the fifteenth-century Netherlandish artists with a long tradition of symbolic religious painting. John the Baptist holds a lamb, recalling his recognition of Christ as the "Lamb of God." Seated on the left is Catherine of Alexandria with her sword and wheel, the instruments of her martyrdom. Saint Barbara offers Jesus an apple or a quince, an age-old symbol of love. To early Christian and medieval theologians, Mary became associated with this bride, and the enclosed garden symbolized her virginity and also the lost Eden which is regained through Christ's birth. Even the doorway recalls Christ's saying, "I am the door. No man cometh unto the Father but by me." [
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