Virgin of the Angels

Enrique de Estencop, a painter active in the Crown of Aragon in the late fourteenth century, created this Virgin of the Angels for a Catalan church around 1391. The subject of the Virgin surrounded by a celestial court of angels was particularly beloved in the devotional culture of medieval Catalonia and Aragon. Estencop's work reflects the vibrant International Gothic style that flourished in the western Mediterranean, blending Italianate and French influences with local Catalan traditions.

Executed in egg tempera on gold-ground panel, the composition centers the enthroned Virgin within a symmetrical arrangement of adoring angels. The elaborate tooled gold decoration and rich color palette of ultramarine, vermilion, and green reflect the ornamental sophistication of the Catalan Gothic school.