Madonna and Child, by William Dyce, R.A. (1806-1864). Oil on canvas. 39 3/8 x 31 3/4 inches (102.9 x 80.6 cm). Collection of Tate Britain, reference no. T00618. Image courtesy Tate Britain under the terms of the Creative Commons CC BY-NC 4.0 DEED. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Dyce visited Rome in 1827-28 and during his stay he became aware of the art of the Nazarenes, a group of German artists who were inspired by Quattrocento religious painting. This early work may be the painting Dyce exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1838, no. 452, and it was also exhibited at the Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition in 1857. It is one of the first of Dyce's series of paintings of the Madonna and Child that he produced between 1827-45 and which include in the region of twelve finished canvases as well as numerous drawings (Pointon 37).
Tim Barringer considers this to be "a superbly successful essay in the style of Perugino" (496). Anne Steed, however, feels this particular work was obviously inspired by Raphael:
The gentle features of the Madonna, her cupid lips and modest downcast glance, seem to have come directly from the Master and communicate a gentle sweetness that contributes hugely to the success of this work. The composition may be Dyce's own. Although very like a Raphael group, it is not an exact copy and the particular emphasis on the close embrace suggests that Dyce may have used a live model for the pose. The complex interweaving of the Christ child's body and limbs enclosed in the Madonna's hands, creates a point of focus which holds our attention. There seems to be an attended visual analogy between the interwoven limbs and the Virgin's plaited hair and this interplay of forms adds to the emotional intensity of the painting, which was surely intended for personal religious contemplation and devotion…. This work differs from Dyce's other surviving representations of the Virgin in that the costume is particularly detailed. The Virgin wears an actual dress with sleeves and waist rather than generalized flowing drapery that he features in his other religious works. The diaphanous scarf is a common costume accessory in Raphael's Madonnas. The landscape, too, has been inspired by Italian art and is reminiscent of landscape, backgrounds in paintings by artists such as Leonardo. The fairly carefully observed plant study on the left of the foreground has the look of an exotic specimen taken from a botanical study. [106]
Another art critic, William Vaughan, feels this painting may have been influenced by Raphael's Tempi Madonna which Dyce could have seen in the Pinakothek in Munich. He finds that this early Madonna and Child by Dyce of c.1827-30 emphasizes maternal sentiment as opposed to his later versions of 1845 which emphasize religious devotion (199). Marcia Pointon has also commented on this early work, which she believes is, indeed, the painting Dyce exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1838:
Dyce's Madonna and Child of 1838, posed without supporting figures on the surface plane of the canvas against a landscape reminiscent of the Arno valley, would have seemed to Dyce's contemporaries an unapologetically devotional figure. The painting is cautiously handled, warm in colour and, when compared with the Madonna and Child which Dyce painted in 1845 for the Prince Consort, sentimental in mood. The Madonna peeps coyly from beneath half-closed lids. Three-quarters of the porcelain, dimpled cheeks and chin are seen framed in a filigree arrangement of wispy hair, delicately half covering the ears. The plaited and beribboned coiffure and the arabesques of the diaphanous veil are echoed in the painstakingly decorative treatment of the tree in the background. [36]
Link to Related Material
Bibliography
Barringer, Tim. Preraffaelliti Rinascimento Moderno [Pre-Raphaelites Modern Renaissance]. Milan: Dario Cimorelli Editore, 2024, cat. II.3, 496.
Madonna and Child. Art UK. Web. 12 December 2024.
Pointon, Marcia. William Dyce 1806-1864. A Critical Biography. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1979.
Steed, Anne, William Dyce and the Pre-Raphaelite Vision. Ed. Jennifer Melville. Aberdeen: Aberdeen City Council, 2006, cat. 17, 106-07.
Vaughan, William. German Romanticism and English Art. New Haven and London: Yales University Press, 1979.
Created 12 December 2024