The Virgin and her Companions sewing the Veil of the Temple
after Guido Reni (Bologna 1575 – Bologna 1642)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1600 - 1699
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
219 x 1969 mm (48 x 77 1/2)
Place of origin
Italy
Order this imageCollection
Tatton Park, Cheshire
NT 1298258
Caption
According to the apocryphal gospels and Jacobus de Voragine’s medieval Golden Legend, the Virgin Mary spent her childhood in the Temple of Jerusalem. She was accompanied by other virgins and was visited daily by angels since her parents had been forewarned that she was God’s chosen one. Here Mary is seen sitting with six companions, busy sewing, whilst two female figures preside, one of whom, on the left, is holding a distaff, an attribute of one the Fates, Eve and the Virgin. The veil was torn in two on the death of Jesus Christ. In other depictions of the Madonna sewing, like Guido Reni’s 1611 fresco in the Chapel of the Annunciation, at the Palazzo del Quirinale, Rome, she is alone with only two angels. It suggests a later stage in her life, after her education, where she may already be pregnant with the holy child and preparing for his birth. A prime version is in the Hermitage in St Petersburg, from the Basilica della Santa Casa in Loreto.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, The Virgin and her Companions sewing the Veil of the Temple (The Education of the Virgin), after Guido Reni (Bologna 1575 – Bologna 1642). Depicts a scene with the female subject seated in the centre with her attendants about her. This is a copy of the picture of around 1640/42 in the Hermitage, St Petersburg. The veil of the temple was torn in two on the death of Jesus Christ.
Provenance
Bequeathed by Maurice Egerton, 4th Baron Egerton of Tatton (1874 - 1958) to the National Trust with the house, gardens and contents of Tatton Park
Credit line
Tatton Park, The Egerton Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
after Guido Reni (Bologna 1575 – Bologna 1642), artist previously catalogued as attributed to Bernhard Keil (Helsingør 1624 - Rome 1687), artist