Focus on Virgin and Child Enthroned and discuss the Dating and attribution.
The panel closely resembles van der Weyden's c. 1430–1432 Madonna Standing, and seems influenced by the work of Robert Campin, under whom he served his apprenticeship. It is especially close to Campin's 1430 Virgin and Child before a Firescreen, now in London; one of the last works Campin completed before van der Weyden left his studio on 1 August 1432. In both, the Virgin has large, full, breasts, her fingers pressing as she nurses the Child. There are further similarities in her facial features and expression; the colour, style, and position of her hair; as well her pose. Lorne Campbell attributes the work to van der Weyden's workshop, while art historian John Ward credits it to Campin and gives a date of c. 1435.
Ward's thesis is based on the fact that the Thyssen panel, so named after its home at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, is overwhelmingly influenced by Campin, while the contemporaneous and more sophisticated Madonna Standing draws heavily from van Eyck. He finds such a sudden shift unlikely, while also pointing out that this work evidences some technical difficulties that Campin was never to resolve, especially in respect to foreshortening and the rendering of the body beneath the robes. He also points to the architectural similarities in Campin's Marriage of Mary, although this may be a matter of influence.The painting was completed early in van der Weyden's career, probably just after his apprenticeship with Robert Campin ended. Although highly accomplished, it is filled with symbolism of a kind absent from his more mature works. It is one of three attributed paintings, all early works, that show the Virgin and Child set within an architectural setting, surrounded with painted sculptural figures, the others being The Madonna Standing and the Durán Madonna.Sculptural figuration was to become a hallmark of van der Weyden's mature work, and is best typified by the Madrid Descent, where the mourning figures are shaped and take on poses more usually seen in sculpture. Erwin Panofsky identified this work and The Madonna Standing as van der Weyden's earliest extant work; they are also his smallest panels. Panofsky dated both panels as 1432–34, and believed them to be early works based on stylistic reasons, their near miniature scale, and because of the evident influences of both Campin and van Eyck.
Virgin and Child Erwin Panofsky Robert Campin Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum Madrid Madonna Standing Lorne Campbell Durán Madonna left The Madonna Standing foreshortening