Mary with the Christ-child

Jan Gossaert created this work around 1527 during the High Renaissance period. The painting reflects the artistic traditions and cultural preoccupations of its time and place of origin. The painting is in the Gemäldegalerie Berlin. Madonna and Child panels were central to Renaissance workshop production, meeting constant demand from private patrons, confraternities, and churches who required intimate devotional images for personal piety and public display.

The devotional composition is rendered with attention to the expressive and contemplative qualities that served the painting's function as an aid to prayer and meditation.