Bartolomeo’s 'The Virgin and Child with Six Angels and Two Cherubim'

The Virgin Mary is one of the most recognisable people in the history of art. She graces the walls of the National Gallery in hundreds of paintings, but this one is rather unusual. 

Dressed in a luxurious blue gown, she stands facing the viewer, her eyes locked on us. A dazzling golden crown, heavy with jewels, sits on her neatly braided hair. She lifts her golden sleeve and points a hand towards her well-dressed attendants.

At first glance, you might think this was a painting of a medieval queen. Yet the glistening halo around her head and the Christ Child sat gently in the crook of her arm tell us otherwise.

The fashionable world of Florence 

Created around 1440-1450, ‘The Virgin and Child with Six Angels and Two Cherubim’ offers us a glimpse into the fashionable world of early Renaissance Florence.  

The Virgin’s unusual standing pose shows off her elegant gown, which is woven with a floral pattern and lined with ermine fur. If you look closely, you’ll see it is edged with gold tassels. Christ’s elaborate outfit, complete with fur-lined cape, is a miniature version of his mother’s, though it includes even more gold embroidery. 

Mary’s large jewelled crown sits on top of a semi-transparent veil, probably made of fine linen or silk. Her belt is high on her waist, a trend that was fashionable in the late 1440s or early 1450s. Here she is shown as the height of fashion, in clothing that wealthy Florentines would have aspired to wear in the mid-fifteenth century. 

A similar outfit to the one the Virgin Mary is shown as wearing in this painting can be seen in Fra Filippo Lippi’s ‘Portrait of a Woman with a Man at a Casement’ wears a similar outfit, although with a head dress instead of a crown.

A closer look at the heavenly retinue 

The young men around Mary are similarly dressed. They are wearing patterned hose (stockings) and long doublets (fitted jackets) which are trimmed with fur and decorated with gold thread on the sleeves. These clothes look like what men wore in Florence around the 1440s and early 1450s.

Unusually, the Virgin Mary’s entourage isn’t shown praying or doing anything that looks like worship. They could even be mistaken for medieval page boys, yet one thing gives them all away. The tiny golden wings that poke out from their shoulders tell us that they are angels, attending to the Queen of Heaven. Look even closer and you will notice the writing on their sleeves, which refers to hymns praising Jesus.