The Virgin and Christ Child Served by Angels
Medium
Etching; first state of three (Robert-Dumesnil)
Dimensions
sheet: 11 1/2 x 15 7/8 in. (29.2 x 40.4 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1928
Accession Number
28.91.7
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the serene etching *The Virgin and Christ Child by Angels* (1640), French artist Laurent de La Hy collaborates with engraver François Langlois to a tender biblical scene. The Virgin Mary cradles the infant Christ, attended by ethereal angels offering fruits and flowers—a classic motif of divine nurturing rooted in Renaissance and Baroque devotional art. Created during France's Louis XIII era, this print reflects the era's blend of emotional piety and emerging Classicism, where de La Hyre's graceful compositions emphasized harmony and elegance over dramatic intensity. As a first-state etchi...
About the Artist
Laurent de La Hyre|François Langlois · 1606–1656
Laurent de La Hyre (1606–1656) was a French painter whose elegant, classical compositions placed him among the finest artists of the first generation of French Baroque painters working in Paris. Born into an artistic family — his father Étienne de La Hyre was also a painter — Laurent received his early training largely through independent study rather than formal apprenticeship under a single domi...