Durán Madonna

A Virgin in a sweeping red robe bends over her child, who restlessly turns the pages of a book backwards. Rogier van der Weyden made the pair look like painted statues come to life.

The story behind the painting

Rogier van der Weyden completed this oil on oak panel sometime between 1435 and 1438. It derives from Jan van Eyck's Ince Hall Madonna and was much imitated afterwards. It is also known as the Madonna in Red, the Virgin and Child in a Niche or the Madonna Enthroned. The painting was taken to Spain sometime in the 16th century, where it was often copied. Pedro Fernández-Durán acquired it in 1899 at the Palacio de Boadilla in Madrid and gave it to the Museo del Prado in 1930, which is why it carries his name.

What to look for

Mary wears a long red hooded robe lined with gold-coloured thread and a white headdress. Her robe swirls through the space, hides her throne and falls over the support at her feet. The Child, in a white shirt, sits on her lap and crumples the pages of a book on her knee. The book sits at the exact centre of the panel. Above, an angel in dark grey holds a pearl-studded crown. A Gothic niche frames them, its arches echoing the curve of Mary's body, and a projecting plinth makes the figures look like a relief. The black background was probably overpainted for an 18th century seller.

Meaning and intent

For the Prado, the book alludes to the Holy Scriptures announcing Christ's redemptive mission. Alfred Acres notes that the Child, older and less soft than usual, leafs backwards toward the beginning, and suggests he is turning back to the Fall of Man in Genesis, linking the scene to redemption. Lorne Campbell sees the influence of Robert Campin's Frankfurt Virgin in its ideal of beauty and long drapery. Shirley Neilsen Blum writes that Rogier defies logic by making painting and sculpture seem present at once, so that divinity is stressed because it transcends the limits of any medium.

Legacy

The attribution to van der Weyden is not doubted, thanks to close similarities with his Descent from the Cross, the Miraflores Altarpiece and the head of the Madonna in his Froimont Diptych. X-ray research found no lost detail under the black overpaint. Once in Spain, the painting was frequently copied, and today it hangs in the Prado. Its mix of tenderness, restless movement and illusion still invites viewers to wonder whether they are looking at a painting or at living stone.