Madonna of Canon van der Paele
The original, as its museum records it
Every line above is reproduced from the holding institution’s own catalogue entry, which is linked. Where their title, date or attribution differs from ours, theirs is the one printed here.
The file this print is made from
Sizes
About this painting
He is not wearing his glasses. He holds them over the prayer book in his hands — an old man's eyes catalogued in oil down to the shadow the lenses cast.
Beside him kneels his name-saint, George, unhelmeted, presenting him to the Virgin. Donatian stands opposite bearing a wheel ringed with five burning candles, the sign of his legend as a child drawn safely from a river.
Stephen Hanley reads the glasses as magnification: held over his page, the canon "magnifies the Word" — the verb the Virgin before him uses to open her canticle, Magnificat.
Sources: Stephen Hanley, 'Optical Symbolism as Optical Description,' Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art, vol. 1.1 (2009) · Saint George removing helmet, presenting kneeling canon to the Virgin; George as canon's name-saint · Museum object page confirming figures and composition (Mary, Christ Child, Donatian, George, canon) · Luke 1:46, Douay-Rheims (Challoner).
Printed on demand. Public-domain masterwork, reproduced from a 8,089 px master of the original. The whole image is printed — never cropped to fit the sheet — so every sheet carries an archival margin, and the dimensions and resolution listed above are the ones you receive.