Madonna and Child

Executed in 1532, this religious painting by Jan Gossaert utilizes oil paint applied to a wooden panel support. The work measures 34.4 centimeters in height and 24.8 centimeters in width, presenting a compact format typical of devotional imagery from the period. The composition focuses strictly on the Madonna and Child, depicting the Virgin Mary holding the Christ Child as the sole figures within the frame.

While the specific handling of the brushwork and the current physical condition of the surface are not detailed in the available records, the piece is formally classified as a panel painting within the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

Dated to 1532, this oil-on-panel painting by Jan Gossaert first appears in recorded ownership with Prince Nikolai Viktorovich Gagarin in Moscow by 1892, when it was exhibited in a charity show of private collections. By approximately 1921 or 1922, the work belonged to Prince Paul Trubetskoi in Paris. It subsequently passed through the dealer Van Diemen & Co. in The Hague before being purchased in August 1922 by Ralph Harman Booth and his wife, Mary Batterman Booth, of Grosse Pointe, Michigan.

The painting remained within the Booth family, descending in 1949 to their daughter Virginia Vogel and her husband William in Milwaukee, and later to their daughter, Grace Vogel Aldworth, in Chicago by 1977. In 1981, Aldworth gifted the work to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

The painting is held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where it entered the collection as a gift in 1981 from Grace Vogel Aldworth and Mrs. William Vogel. Its earlier ownership includes Prince Nikolai Viktorovich Gagarin, Prince Paul Trubetskoi, Ralph and Mary Booth, and later the Vogel family, as documented in curatorial files. The work was displayed in a Moscow charity exhibition in 1892, and a letter notes its import to the United States around 1921‑1922 before the Booths acquired it in 1922. The National Gallery of Art’s catalog records the piece in its permanent collection.

Jan Gossaert's Madonna and Child, an oil painting on panel from approximately 1532, presents the Virgin Mary cradling the infant Jesus. This work exemplifies the artist's meticulous approach to detail and his ability to render figures with a sense of three-dimensional presence. The composition is characteristic of religious art from the early 16th century, focusing on a tender moment between mother and child.

Created in the 1500s, Madonna and Child reflects the artistic trends of its era, particularly the Northern Renaissance's emphasis on detailed observation and naturalistic representation within religious subjects. Gossaert's work contributed to the evolving visual language of devotional imagery, blending traditional themes with a refined, contemporary aesthetic.