Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele

The Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele is a large oil-on-oak panel painting by the Early Netherlandish painter Jan van Eyck. It was commissioned as an epitaph for Joris van der Paele, a wealthy clergyman from Bruges. It is one of the earliest known Northern Sacra conversazione. The work has an overall sculptural look; the throne, windows, arches and hanging canvases borrow from the conventions of Romanesque architecture. The panel is still with its original oak frame. Each side bear Latin inscriptions; Donatian is described as having "Enjoy[ed] the Glory of God", while George has "Triumphed over Death". The upper border of the frame contains words from the Book of Wisdom, comparing Mary to an "unspotted mirror".

It was commissioned in the autumn of 1434 to celebrate Van der Paele's dedication to his church, St. Donatian's Cathedral in Bruges, and as his epitaph. The Virgin and Child contains one of the finest extant examples of Oriental carpets in Renaissance painting and shows an obvious debt to manuscript illumination. The painting is characterised by its innovative use of illusionism and complex spatial composition, and incorporates rich and detailed symbolism and allegory. It is widely considered one of van Eyck's most fully realised and ambitious works and has been described as a "masterpiece of masterpieces".

It shows the Virgin Mary and the child Jesus seated on an elevated throne decorated with carved representations of Adam and Eve, prefigurations of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus, and figures from Old Testament scenes. Mary is positioned at the center of a tight semicircular and sacred interior space, seemingly modelled on and representing a church interior. Saint Donatian of Reims, patron saint of Bruges' collegiate church, stands to the left, with Saint George (van der Paele's name saint) dressed in medieval knight's armour, to the right. Both are identified in the Latin inscriptions on the lower border of the imitation bronze frame. George is shown lifting his helmet in respect and presenting the elderly Canon to Mary. Van der Paele is dressed in a white surplice and is shown piously reading from a book of hours.

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