Triptych of Virgin and Child; Saints Catherine and Barbara

Simon Bening created this triptych of the Virgin and Child with Saints Catherine and Barbara around 1520. As the foremost Flemish miniaturist of his generation, Bening's panel paintings retain the intimate scale and exquisite detail of manuscript illumination. Saints Catherine and Barbara were among the most venerated female saints in the Low Countries. The triptych is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

The triptych format creates a portable devotional object suitable for private worship. Bening's miniaturist technique produces surfaces of extraordinary refinement, with luminous color and microscopic detail in costume and setting.