The Head of the Virgin: a study for 'Consolatrix Afflictorum'

This sheet is a preparatory study for the head of the Virgin in Dagnan-Bouveret's Consolatrix Afflictorum, one of the artist’s most ambitious religious compositions, painted in 1899, now in the Frick Art and Historical Center, Pittsburgh (fig. 1). The oil depicts the Virgin and Child seated within a tranquil pastoral landscape, attended by music-making angels, contrasted with a crouched figure symbolising human suffering.

Fig. 1: Pascal-Adolphe-Jean Dagnan-Bouveret, Consolatrix Afflictorum, oil on canvas, Frick Art and Historical Center, Pittsburgh