Resumen de A rediscovered prototype by Quinten Metsys: 'Christ blessing with the Virgin in adoration'

Kiffy Stainer-Hutchins, Simon Watney, Hugo Platt

• The writers identify a Christ blessing with the Virgin in Adoration, found in a church in Bradford-upon-Avon, England, as a lost compositional prototype by Quinten Metsys for various versions of Virgin at Prayer and Christ as Saviour. The Bradford-upon-Avon work features exceptionally fine detailing and brushwork that appears to be typical of Metsys; moreover, it was later found that the Christ blessing was not in fact part of a pair or diptych but the left half of a single rectangular panel, the other side of which was found to be a Virgin in Adoration in the collection of the Trustees of Lady Juliet Tadgell. The writers go on to compare the work to those paintings most closely related to it. They conclude that, in its original form, this rediscovered masterpiece appears to be a lost compositional prototype for this stock image.