MASTER of Hoogstraeten
(active c. 1490-1530)

Madonna and Child with Sts Catherine and Barbara

-
Oil on canvas, 84 x 70 cm
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Art historian have otherwise attributed the painting to Hugo van der Goes, and certainly elements of Van der Goes are readily discernible in the pointed, fluttering angels, the smooth, compact face of the Virgin, the fascinating landscape conceived as a theatrical wing, and the pose of the Madonna. The latter, besides having a typology typical of Van der Goes, sits on a throne pushed into the foreground with extraordinary dramatic effect.