Jean Fouquet was a court painter to French king Charles VII and one of the most famous painters of his age. In addition to several miniatures, only about a dozen drawings and panels by him have come down to us. This Madonna surrounded by Seraphs and Cherubim is his best-known and most exceptional work. It was originally the right-hand panel of a diptych, known as the Melun Diptych, made for Etienne Chevalier, the treasurer of Charles VII. The realistic and worldly client’s portrait on the counterpart panel (Berlin, Gemäldegalerie) presents a marked contrast to the stylised and exalted Madonna on this panel. This is no ordinary Virgin and Child. Although the Mother of God is depicted as intercessor, she is also glorified as the Queen of Heaven. The highly formalised scene and the strongly sculptural character of the painting are typical of Fouquet’s style. The heavenly radiance, the limited palette of cool colours and the geometric volumes give the work a remarkably ‘modern’ feel.
