(India, late Moghul period 1760/70) Mother and child in a landscape, gouache and gold paint, on paper, black bprder and framing lines in reddish orange, gold, green and white, mounted on a blue album (?) page, 38 x 27 cm, damaged (worn), unframed, (Hu)

The artist refers to the Christian motif of the Woman of the Apocalypse and/or the sun-crowned Madonna. The Madonna is standing on the cescent moon and is crushing the serpent. She is holding the Infant Christ, who is offering the Madonna a fruit. Prints after works by Schongauer, Lucas van Leyden or Albrecht Dürer reached India, Sri Lanka and Goa, where they were copied by local artists.

The present sheet goes back to a watercolour in Washington, which is again the copy of a European model image: Anonymous Mughal artist, Assumption of the Virgin Mary, Copy after an engraving by a Westphalien or Netherlandish artist of ca. 1520, ink, opaque watercolour and gold on paper, 12,9 x 9,4 cm. Freer and Sackler Galleries of Art, Washington D. C. S 1990, 57. See also: Jerry Losty, Problems in Deccani and Mughal drawings: a marbled ox fight and the Virgin of the Apocalypse, British Library, Asian and African Studies blog, 12th Oct. 2015.

We are grateful to Univ. Prof. Dr. Ebba Koch, for the scientific consultation.