Virgin and Child with Four Angels Research Paper

Virgin and Child with Four Angels - Research Paper Example The dimensions are not very impressive. The artwork is relatively small. It is 63 cm tall and 39 cm wide. Wonderful use of light and shade gives the viewer a glazy feel. The painting has been developed on a wooden panel. The subject is all about Virgin Mary holding her son Jesus (in the form of a little baby). The depiction shows the mother and the child has very human-like rather than angel-like structure. The scene is that of Virgin Mary being anointed the Queen of the Heaven by four angels. Nevertheless, the artist has depicted the scene on the backdrop of contemporary cityscape (Harbison, 160-165). In this way, contemporary metropolitan environment has been admixed with the Biblical mythology. However, the facial expressions of Virgin Mary and the four angels appear to be very serious but serene and full of heavenly pity. The painting is of oil-on-panel variety, where the artist has laboured hard to create fine details. Use of several colours along with copious illumination has been accomplished with the help of brushstrokes and different oil-based shades. Medieval Europe used to be a very religious place. Religion played a key role in not only socio-cultural life, but also in the continent’s politics, municipality, architecture, military, ethics, etc. The art and architecture of Europe at that time clearly reflected this social situation. Christianity influenced the Medieval European population heavily, and the artwork Virgin and Child with Four Angels is a very important example of this reality. Common people used to buy lots of artefacts dedicated to Christianity, and many contemporary pictures and paintings depicted Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ, and other historic or mythological characters (Borchert, 144). Gerard David was no exception to this tendency, and he used his artistic skills professionally. In his time, he might have earned considerable amount of money by creating and selling artworks depicting scenes from Christian texts and Biblical