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Van der Weyden's Virgin and Child is an early work of surprisingly small dimensions, and is a fine demonstration of the technical virtuosity which the artist was capable of expressing. The Gothic niche in which Mary is seated - and particularly the sculptures which decorate it (depicting scenes from the Nativity cycle) - could almost be the work of a miniature painter. The architectural setting is rendered in perspective, albeit a less rigorous one than would have been used by van der Weyden's Italian contemporaries, and creates a three-dimensional space in which the two figures are placed.
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