Print: Virgin and Child surrounded by Angels Poster

Virgin and Child surrounded by Angels by Jean Fouquet "Virgin and Child surrounded by Angels" is a painting on wood panel by Jean Fouquet, c. 1450, 93 x 85 cm, Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp, Belgium. The model for the Virgin was Agnès Sorel, the favourite mistress of King Charles VII of France, to whom she bore three daughters. She was a great beauty with extraordinary intelligence. She had a strong influence on the king, which led to a number of powerful enemies at court. While pregnant with her fourth child at the age of 28, she was poisoned and died. "Virgin and Child surrounded by Angels" is one of Fouquet's most important paintings. It is the right wing of a diptych (the other wing depicts Etienne Chevalier with his patron Saint Stephen). Jean Fouquet was France's most important 15th century artist. He invented miniature portrait painting and was a master of both panel painting and of manuscript illumination.