After Jan Gossaert, called Mabuse

A number of versions and copies of this painting exist, of which that in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (inv. no. 942) is considered to be the primary one, or the closest to it. The original treatment of the composition is believed to have been executed circa 1527. Two pictures, thought to be copies from Gossaert's workshop, are held in the National Gallery, London (inv. no. NG 1888) and the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek, Munich (inv. no. WAF 306).¹ The image was also reproduced in an engraving by Crispijn de Passe in 1589. Here, the colours of the Virgin's robes, which differ between the versions, are closest to those of the Vienna version.

The text inscribed around the edge of the niche is based on the verse from Genesis 3:15: MVLIERIS SEMEN IHS SERPENTIS CAPVT CONTRIVIT, the words of God addressing the serpent after the Fall: "it [the seed of the woman] shall bruise thy head." Gossaert makes the reference to Christ explicit in the way that the Child runs forward, while looking back up at the word serpentis.

1. M. Ainsworth (ed.), Man, myth and sensual pleasures. Jan Gossart's Renaissance, exhibition catalogue, New York 2010, pp. 173 - 179, cat nos 17A - 17C.

2. New York 2010, p. 426, reproduced fig. 325.