| Panel with half figures of the Virgin and Child and Bernard behind a sill on which are an open book with spectacles upon it as well as its case, some fruit and a butterfly. The Virgin is sitting holding the naked Child on her left arm while her right hand is placed upon her bared breast. She faces a kneeling Bernard with his arms clasped and his crozier leaning on his left shoulder. Between them is a scroll with the inscription: ' Monstra te esse matrem'. The figure of Bernard is undoubtedly an abbot portrait, and therefore probably came from a Cistercian abbey. There is a Lactation painting by Joos van Cleve in Paris, see PA52. The composition of the picture is also very similar to that of PA073.
|
