La Vierge à l'Enfant

The Master with the Parrot's La Vierge à l'Enfant, painted around 1515 and now at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels, adds another location to the scattered holdings of this anonymous painter, whose works are found in museums across Europe and North America. The Brussels location is appropriate given the Flemish or South Netherlandish origin most often proposed for this anonymous painter. The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium hold comprehensive collections of Flemish and Netherlandish painting from all periods, providing rich context for understanding the devotional production in which the Master with the Parrot worked.

The Flemish Madonna type presents the Virgin in a three-quarter pose with the Christ child, the characteristic parrot visible as a symbolic or decorative element. Technical execution follows Flemish panel conventions with careful underdrawing and methodical layering of paint.