The Virgin of the Counsellors, 1443–1445

This altarpiece was made in the years 1443–1445 by the Spanish court painter Lluís Dalmau (ca. 1400–1460) for the chapel in Barcelona city hall. Dalmau, who was sent by King Alfons V (1396–1458) to Flanders in 1431 to study the revolutionary painting technique of the artists there, referenced the characteristic style of the Dutch Old Masters in his Virgin of the Counsellors, and used appropriate materials and techniques in his own work.

The Virgin of the Counsellors, oil on oak panel, 316 cm x 312.5 cm x 32.5 cm, 1443–1445, artist: Lluís Dalmau (ca. 1400–1460); source: Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya of Barcelona, www.museunacional.cat, inv. no. 015938-000, https://www.museunacional.cat/en/colleccio/virgin-consellers/lluis-dalmau/015938-000, Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial–ShareAlike 3.0 Deutschland (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/de/.