GOSSART, Jan
(b. ca. 1478, Maubeuge, d. 1532, Middelburg)

Virgin and Child with Sts Catherine and Barbara

1510-15
Black chalk, 424 x 299 mm
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

The present drawing is one of Gossart's three versions of the Virgin and Child with St Catherine. The architecture and the sculptural motifs of the composition reflect the artist's studies in Rome in 1508-09. The ornamentation of the capitals topping the fluted columns may have been derived from North Italian examples.

The drawing probably functioned as a design for a larger painting.