The Virgin Mary with the Child Jesus in a Shirt

Adriaen Isenbrant`s Virgin with Child is a lovely example of a small devotional panel, a scene of great tenderness and melancholy in which the figures are silhouetted against a gold background that underlines the sacred nature of the composition. The gold background is the symbol of Heavenly Kingdom, with an atmosphere more suited to meditation ans silence. In fact it harks back to the old intimist Byzantine images.