Virgin with Child by Hans Holbein the Elder, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga

Hans Holbein the Elder created this intimate devotional Virgin and Child around 1519, near the end of his long career as Augsburg's foremost painter. The work demonstrates the synthesis that defined Holbein the Elder's mature style: precise Flemish naturalism absorbed through contact with Netherlandish models combined with the warmer coloring and spatial depth introduced by Italian Renaissance painting. Holbein the Elder trained a generation of German painters including his son Hans Holbein the Younger, and his late devotional panels show an elegance and tenderness that anticipates the younger Holbein's psychological sophistication. Now at the National Museum of Ancient Art in Lisbon.

The panel shows the precise draftsmanship and rich color characteristic of German Renaissance painting, with the detailed rendering and clear compositional structure typical of the artist's workshop production.