The Virgin and Child

Boltraffio probably painted this in Milan in the 1490s, and the National Gallery thinks it may once have been the central panel of an altarpiece. The clues are in the set-up. The panel is almost a metre tall, the two figures sit squarely in the middle, and we look up at them from below, the way someone kneeling at an altar would. The Virgin wears a deep red gown with a gold brooch and a sheer embroidered scarf. Behind her hangs a green curtain, a cloth of honour, with gold letters worked into its pattern that spell a greeting to Mary. The Child is large for a baby. He turns from her breast, toys with the beads on her scarf and looks out of the picture. The Gallery bought it in 1863, four years after it was sold from Lord Northwick's collection.