Rarely, in art history, the icon of the Holy Mary coexists with a kind of "breast-implant voluptuousness" as in the case of Jean Fouquet's "The Virgin and Child", part of the Melun diptych now divided between Antwerp and Berlin. Far from the conventional, pious image of the "Mater Dolorosa", Fouquet's unusual Madonna displays the features of Agnes Sorel, also known as "La Belle Agnès", a popular courtesan at the court of the French king Charles VII, whose sexual favors were equally shared by the king and his royal secretary, Etienne Chevalier. Fouquet's flesh colors are lifeless and the Child's body looks unnatural. There are no traces of motherly love or virginity but rather something both humorous and conspicuously pornographic about this "not so holy" mother of God.

JEAN FOUQUET (1420-1480)

This outstanding French painter of the 15th century was born at Tours and is known to have been in Rome between 1443 and 1447, when he painted a portrait, now lost, of Pope Eugenius IV. Much has been made of this Italian journey, the influence of which can be detected in the perspective essays and Classical architecture of his subsequent works, but the strongly sculptural character of his painting, which was deeply rooted in his native tradition, did not succumb to Italian influence.
On his return from Italy Fouquet entered the service of the French court. His first patron was Etienne Chevalier, the royal secretary and lord treasurer, for whom he produced a Book of Hours (1450-60), now dismembered but mainly in the Musee Conde at Chantilly, and who appears in the Diptych of Melun (c. 1450), now divided between Antwerp (Musee Royal) and Berlin (Staatliche Museen). The Virgin in this work, at Antwerp, is rumored to be a portrait of Agnes Sorel, Charles VII's mistress, whom Chevalier had also loved.