Virgin and the Child

Author: António Vaz

Date: ca 1540

Material: Oil on chestnut

Dimensions (cm): H 59,5 x W 49,5

Provenance: Guimarães, Colegiada de Nossa Senhora da Oliveira, private chapel of the Priors

Inventory No.: MAS P 7

 

Under two corbels with cherubim heads, the figure of the Virgin with the Child in her arms stands out. It’s important to notice that Mary is caressing the Child’s foot, and therefore she may be also regarded as the Virgin of Tenderness. The Child embraces the cross, a premonitory symbol of his future crucifixion. Two birds, symbol of the divine messengers, one of which with a red patch and the other holding a cartouche with the painter’s signature on the beak, are placed on the parapet, together with an open book and an apple, an allusion to the original sin in the depictions of Adam and Eve. However, in these representations of the Virgin and the Child, the apple symbolizes the forbidden fruit that hasn’t been tasted yet and so it symbolizes salvation and redemption.

The study of this painting by Dalila Rodrigues allowed her to identify some historiographical problems that are raised concerning the identity and activity of the painter António Vaz, the author of this panel from Guimarães, and his relationship with the homonym painter from Viseu, a disciple of Vasco Fernandes, the doubt about the same authorship and identity for both painters still remaining.