Holy Virgin with the Child Jesus

Massijs was one of the trailblazers of Renaissance painting and was a founder of the Antwerp School. Before he began to paint he was a decorative ironsmith. Where Massijs had his training is not known. He grew up in Leuven and in 1491 was entered as a free master in the registers of the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke. Initially, he leant towards the style of the Flemish Primitives, as this tondo reveals. After 1500, he concentrated on the Renaissance ideal of beauty. This painter’s famous diptych Mary and Jesus (Antwerp, Royal Museum of Fine Arts, exhibited in Leuven, Museum M) was among the works Rockox had in his art gallery.