The Virgin of Mercy of the Cadard Family

The Virgin here spreads her cloak wide to shelter a crowd of small kneeling figures, a type of image, the Virgin of Mercy, that came out of Italy and was still rare in France. It was ordered in February 1452 by Pierre Cadard to honour his late father, Jean, a physician who had served King Charles VII of France. The elder Cadard's career had ended under a shadow. He was accused of a hand in the 1419 murder of the powerful duke John the Fearless and went into exile in the papal enclave around Avignon. Enguerrand Quarton, who painted it, worked in Provence, far from the great northern workshops. Under the Virgin's protecting mantle the donor and his wife kneel slightly larger than the ordinary faithful beside them.