Jacques Bellange c.1575-1616
The Virgin and Child with cradle
Etching, c.1612-16
Given by the Friends of the Fitzwilliam Museum 1987

Bellange had an immensely successful career as court artist in the ducal court of Nancy, ruled by the Dukes of Lothringen. He worked on a range of different commissions, but is known now only by works on paper, ranging in subject matter and size, from single figure compositions to complex, multi-figure scenes. He was inspired by Netherlandish Mannerism but he developed his own distinctive style. This depiction of the Virgin and Child, a subject that features predominately in his oeuvre, displays many tell-tale features, such as the faces composed of delicate stippling, and the graceful, twisting forms wrapped in folds of drapery.