Jean Fouquet, Virgin Surrounded by Seraphim and Cherubim, Melun Diptych

0:00:07.7 Dr. Beth Harris: We’re in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp, looking at Jean Fouquet’s Madonna Surrounded by Seraphim and Cherubim. Perhaps it’s good to start by saying we’re not looking at the painting as it would have originally appeared, because this was a pair with another painting.

0:00:24.5 Dr. Samuel Mareel: This was a diptych with an extremely elaborate frame. It hung above an altar in a church in Melun, and it belonged to Etienne Chevalier, the treasurer of the French king, Charles VII. And we see Etienne Chevalier depicted on the panel, which is now in Berlin. There are references between the two. We see Saint Stephen directing Etienne to the scene of the Madonna, but we also see the baby Jesus pointing towards the other panel. The whole idea is Etienne Chevalier being introduced to Mary, the Queen of Heaven. And one of the most remarkable aspects about this part of the diptych is the face of the Virgin of Mary, it’s most probably Agnès Sorel, the official mistress of the French king, what we call a portrait historié, it means a biblical figure who has the traits of a contemporary person. And she had died recently, when this painting was made, bearing the child of the French king. Not all art historians agree that this is a reference to Agnès Sorel, but most of them do because there are several portraits made after the death of Agnès Sorel. The resemblances are quite striking.

0:01:46.5 Dr. Harris: And Agnès Sorel was known to be incredibly beautiful, to have beautiful pale skin, to be very fashionable. She looks very fashionable here, with her very high forehead. She wears a ribbon along the top of her forehead, which was also very fashionable.

0:02:07.8 Dr. Mareel: She has this beautiful ermine cloak. She has this beautiful blue dress. She is really represented as the Queen of Heaven with the crown, with these beautiful pearls and these very precious stones, this gold that she’s wearing. She’s also sitting on a throne which has marble, which has gold, which has precious stones, which has pearls. This is a Virgo Lactans, it’s Mary giving the breast to Jesus, who doesn’t seem to be very interested by it, who seems to be more occupied in pointing towards Etienne Chevalier.

0:02:39.2 Dr. Harris: Usually, Mary is holding her breast for the Christ child. Christ is shown actively nursing. Sometimes he’s shown turning away from the breast and engaging the viewer. And here, that lack of connection seems unusual.

0:02:58.4 Dr. Mareel: The question has long been, why would Etienne Chevalier include a recently deceased mistress of the French king in an altarpiece to be put in his chapel? But this is probably a way to honor the memory of Agnès Sorel, and through her, to honor Charles VII, the king at the time. There are several theories as to how this reference to Agnès Sorel originated. There is one that suggested that this scene was originally made for the French king, and Etienne Chevalier asked Jean Fouquet to make a copy because he loved it so much. Or again, as a sort of homage to the French king.

0:03:42.8 Dr. Mareel: A lot of people have discussed the almost abstract qualities of this painting, and indeed, this is quite unique in 15th-century painting to have these very monochrome figures in the back. But this is, perhaps, a little less rare in manuscript painting. And we have several paintings from Jean Fouquet that came down to us, but most of his works that came down to us, are manuscript paintings.

0:04:03.0 Dr. Harris: In fact, there’s a version of Mary holding Christ and of Etienne Chevalier with Saint Stephen also in a manuscript, The Hours of Etienne Chevalier.

0:04:14.3 Dr. Mareel: Later, you would have painters specialize in manuscript painting and others in oil painting, but at the time of Fouquet, they often did both.

0:04:33.7 Dr. Harris: The Madonna and Child is one of the most common subjects in art history. Mary, enthroned, with the Christ child on her lap, surrounded by angels. But usually, she’s much more clearly seated.

0:04:35.4 Dr. Mareel: She almost seems to be leaning against the throne. Although, if she were leaning, it would be difficult to keep the child on her lap. So there is something strange going on there, indeed. There is undeniably an erotic element in this painting, also if you look at the shape of her breast. But she’s not breastfeeding Christ, she’s rather more showing her own beauty, the beauty of her pale skin, of the roundness of her breast. But I think the idea is just a reference to her pure, almost heavenly, beauty.

0:05:06.9 Dr. Harris: And that idea of Mary breastfeeding reminds us of Christ’s humanity, and of Mary as being between human beings and God.

0:05:17.8 Dr. Mareel: That’s true, but we also shouldn’t forget that in the Bible, if we think of the Song of Songs, for example, which was sung to a beloved that is often identified as Mary, there’s a lot of love, erotic imagery as well, so this is not unique in itself. I’m not saying that this is a reference to the Song of Songs, but the idea of Mary as an incredibly beautiful Queen of Heaven, is something that is present in the Bible.

0:05:45.7 Dr. Harris: And in fact, there are so many examples, especially in Northern Renaissance art, where the beauty of the material world is an analogy for the beauty of heaven.

0:05:54.3 Dr. Mareel: Jean Fouquet is considered to be the most important painter in Renaissance France. This is probably the most important painting that came to us from the Renaissance in France. And he is often considered to be between Italian and Flemish painting.

0:06:09.7 Dr. Harris: We know that he spent time in Rome, that he was probably also in Tuscany, that he likely met Fra Angelico, that he knew the work of Piero della Francesca. So in this artist in France, we have this coming together of an Italian tradition and a Northern tradition.

0:06:35.3 Dr. Mareel: The angels around Mary, have a very sculptural quality which reminds one of classical sculpture, but also of the sculpture being practiced in Tuscany at the time. Mary herself, also has a very sculptural quality. But at the same time, there is this enormous attention to detail.

0:06:49.4 Dr. Harris: And these beautiful reflections in these orb shapes that decorate the throne.

0:06:57.9 Dr. Mareel: In the work of Jan van Eyck, you very often see these reflections of windows. And this almost seems to be a deliberate reference to the work of the Flemish primitives.

0:07:04.5 Dr. Harris: And there is something very sculptural about Mary as well, and also something very still and quiet, and a sense of geometries, that remind me of the kind of solemnity that we see in the work of Piero della Francesca.

0:07:20.3 Dr. Mareel: That’s true. This is not something that’s Flemish primitive painters would do. They were much more after a higher degree of realism. But this interest here in ideas behind reality, is much more linked to Neo-Platonism, which was very much in vogue in Florence at that time. So you can see these ideas behind this painting which makes it such an interesting mix of references to Italian and Flemish painting.

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