Hendrick van Balen (Antwerp 1575-1632)
The Virgin and Child with Angels
Oil on copper, 30 x 23.7 cm
The seductive grace and enamel-like handling of the paint, emphasized by the copper support, make this painting a little ‘jewel’ typical of the repertory of this Flemish artist active in the early seventeenth century, devoted mainly to the depiction of religious or mythological subjects interpreted in a dense, highly coloured, descriptive painterly style aimed more at pleasant, elegant narrative than at a dramatic rendering of the content.
