The Virgin with the Child Blessing
The Virgin with the Child Blessing is an unfinished engraving, a working proof that Jan Muller retouched in pen and brown ink, revising the composition. He made adjustments to the Virgin’s drapery, reinforcing the creases and deepening the shadows, redrew the outline of her left shoulder, making it appear higher, and added to the radiant lines of the Mary’s and Christ’s halos.
The figures are in half length, the Virgin holding the Christ Child firmly in her arms, while he raises his right hand to the viewer in the traditional gesture of blessing. In the finished composition, Muller made the changes indicated in pen and ink on this proof and also included an illusionistic frame and a formal inscription below, emphasizing the devotional nature of the composition. This is not a scene taken from the Bible but an image intended to inspire reverence and prayer.
Muller printed an extraordinary number of working proofs during his lifetime. He is the first artist to have done so and more than 170 proofs of his 92 or 93 engravings still exist today.
The figures are in half length, the Virgin holding the Christ Child firmly in her arms, while he raises his right hand to the viewer in the traditional gesture of blessing. In the finished composition, Muller made the changes indicated in pen and ink on this proof and also included an illusionistic frame and a formal inscription below, emphasizing the devotional nature of the composition. This is not a scene taken from the Bible but an image intended to inspire reverence and prayer.
Muller printed an extraordinary number of working proofs during his lifetime. He is the first artist to have done so and more than 170 proofs of his 92 or 93 engravings still exist today.
Artwork Details
- Title: The Virgin with the Child Blessing
- Artist: Jan Muller (Netherlandish, Amsterdam 1571–1628 Amsterdam)
- Date: ca. 1593
- Medium: Engraving; first state of three, with additions in pen and brown ink
- Dimensions: Sheet: 8 15/16 × 6 in. (22.7 × 15.2 cm)
- Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Purchase, A. Hyatt Mayor Purchase Fund, Marjorie Phelps Starr Bequest, Dr. and Mrs. Arthur H. Elkind Gift, and funds from various donors, 2014
- Object Number: 2014.662
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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