Explore the Diptych of this artwork.
The panel may have been conceived as either the left-hand wing of a since dismantled diptych, or as the front piece of a double-sided panel. Art historian Erwin Panofsky suggests that the Washington Saint George and the Dragon of 1432–35 is the most likely opposite wing. In that work, St. George, facing inwards and to the right, slays the dragon before a Libyan princess. Although the pairing might seem incongruous, his Madonna Standing is widely thought to have been attached with the St. Catherine of Alexandria in Vienna. In both panels, the saints face inwards and are within fully realised landscapes. In contrast, in both left-hand panels, the Madonna and Child are positioned frontally (although eye contact is avoided) and isolated within cold grisaille architectural spaces.Blum suggests that van der Weyden sought to juxtapose the otherworldly realm of the Madonna and Child with the earthly setting and contemporary dress of the saints. She describes the couplings as serving to position each saint "as a 'living witness' to the static, eternal presence of the Virgin and Child". She writes that "Only in such early works do we find this kind of obvious solution. By the time of the Descent from the Cross and Durán Madonna, van der Weyden has already worked out a far more complex and effective means of mixing temporal and non-temporal effects".
St. George Virgin and Child Erwin Panofsky Saint George and the Dragon diptych Diptych Descent from the Cross grisaille Madonna Standing Durán Madonna left