THE SUNDAY SNAP

The most famous mum of the Middle Ages, and a peek ahead to the week on History, Etc

In the U.K. we like to do things our way. So it’s Mother’s Day here today, rather than in six weeks’ time. That being so, here’s the most famous mother of the Christian Middle Ages, as depicted by Jan van Eyck in 1436. This painting, held in the Groeningemuseum in Bruges, is known as The Virgin and Child with Canon Joris van der Paele.

If you’re looking for Joris, he’s the chap in white, holding a pair of spectacles, which he has apparently been wearing to read the little book he is clutching. The other figures in the painting are St Donatian (a fourth-century bishop of Reims, whose relics were kept at Joris’ church in Bruges) and St George, in some of the finest armour you’ll ever see.

And of course, the Virgin and Child.

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you who celebrate it today. Either way, I’ll see you this week for more posts, discussion threads and the podcast. I also just took delivery of a big stack of paperback editions of Powers & Thrones. I’ll sign a few and do a giveaway - exclusively for subscribers. If you’d like to be part of that just click the button.

Thanks as always for being part of this thing.

Dan x