The Virgin and Child with a Columbine

The Virgin and Child with a Columbine from 1525 by Luini at the Wallace Collection is a devotional painting in which the flower holds symbolic significance—the columbine was associated with the Holy Spirit and the sorrows of the Virgin. The Wallace Collection holds several important Luini works The Virgin Mary occupied a central place in late medieval and Renaissance piety, venerated as intercessor and Queen of Heaven, her image produced in countless devotional objects for public and private us

The Virgin and Child are rendered with Luini's characteristic soft modeling and gentle expressions, the columbine painted with botanical precision that adds symbolic depth to the devotional image.