Virgin and Child

WAG 2775

Information

Cleaning in 1966 revelaed that a figure of the infant John the Baptist had been scraped off the bottom left of this painting, probably later in the 19th century. The Virgin's pointing finger and the gaze of the Christ child may have been originally directed towards him. This is one of the artworks presented by the Liverpool Royal Institution. Liverpool’s economic development grew directly from Britain’s involvement with transatlantic slavery: the kidnapping, enslavement and forced migration of people from West Africa to the Americas and many to the Caribbean. Many members of the Royal Institution made their fortunes directly through the trade or indirectly through the wider economy. This wealth was largely how they were able to bring rare art and treasures, such as this, to the city.