The Pregnant Virgin

Uma das pinturas que mais me tocou na Galeria Nacional Húngara não só pela beleza mas pela simbologia.

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The Pregnant Virgin, c. 1410

Tempera on larch-wood, 89 x 78 cm, Hungarian National Gallery, From the Batthyány Collection of Németújvár

"(...) Originally it had belonged to a larger altarpiece of de Virgin with several other scenes, and, it had been of horizontal format, but it was truncated on the left. Earlier, the iconography of the picture was determined as a fragment of " the doubts of Joseph", but further refining of this definition became possible when an infrated photograph was taken of the painting in 1993. The photo shows the little Jesus with a cross in double mandorla under the drapery covering the Virgin's belly. This figure was originally painted on the Virgin's gown in accord with the underdrawing, but it was painted over in the baroque age. In reply to "the doubts of Joseph", this type of the Annunciation is connected to the cult of the Pregnant Virgin spreading from the late 14th century and leading to the evolution of a separate devotion picture type. The flowers in the foreground, the washbasin, towel and cauldron on the left are symbols of Mary frequently adopted in German and austrian painting under the influence of Netherlandish art."

Hungarion National Gallery Guide, p. 19