Photograph by Ed Pollard, Canon EOS 5D Mark II digital slr-2010.

A Stone Cartouche with the Virgin and Child, Encircled by a Garland of Flowers

Artist Jan Philips van Thielen (Flemish, 1618 - 1667)

Artist Erasmus Il Quellinus (Flemish, 1607 - 1678)

Date1651

MediumOil on copper

Dimensions49 x 37 1/2 in. (124.5 x 95.3 cm)
Overall, Frame: 58 1/2 x 47 x 4 in. (148.6 x 119.4 x 10.2 cm)

ClassificationsEuropean art

Credit LineMuseum purchase

Object number94.28.1

Terms

Flowers
Virgin
Child
Garland painting
Counter-Reformational
Antwerp

Collections

European Art before 1945

On View

On view

DescriptionThis garland painting is "one of the most ambitious and exquisite of these works and surely one of the few significant expressions of the Van Thielen-Quellinus collaboration still outside the public sphere....At the center of the painting Quellinus depicts grisaille sculptures of the Virgin and Christ Child subduing the serpent. The serpent clutches the apple of Original Sin. It is a disarmingly tender image of the Virgin and Child victorious over sin and the devil. Quellinus sets the holy figures in an intricate stone cartouche crowned at the upper corners with a pair of swans.; Van Thielen weaves the cartouches with ivy (an age-old symbol of death, remembrance and eternal life) and a splendid profusion of blooms -- roses, jasmine, daffodils, snow drops, hydrangea, nasturtium, apple blossoms, anemones -- each of which alludes to the virtues or exemplary lives of the Virgin and Child. The bouquet is enlivened with moths and butterflies symbolizing the resurrection of Christ and his triumph over the grave."

Label TextJan Philips van Thielen Flemish, 1618–1667 Erasmus Quellinus II Flemish, 1607–1678 A Stone Cartouche with the Virgin and Child, Encircled by a Garland of Flowers, 1651 Oil on copper Artists of this period often collaborated, bringing their unique talents to bear on a single work of art. Here, the figure painter Erasmus Quellinus II painted an elaborate cartouche while the still-life specialist Jan Philips van Thielen supplied the vivid flowers. Both artists signed the painting. Because the floral arrangement includes both spring and summer blooms, it could never have been assembled in a real-life bouquet. Instead, they form a timeless wreath of honor that symbolizes the eternal virtues of the Virgin and Child and pays tribute to their enduring holiness. Museum purchase 94.28.1