Artwork
Holy Mary
Holy Mary is an oil painting by the Northern Renaissance artist Adriaen Isenbrandt. It dates from 1520 and is held in the collection of the Bavarian State Painting Collections.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
At its core, the painting functions as a contemplative religious icon, inviting the viewer to focus on Mary as an object of veneration.
The panel depicts the Virgin Mary as a devotional image, rendered in oil on a small oakwood support. Within the genre of religious art, the work presents Mary as the central and sole subject, consistent with the devotional half-length Madonna portraits produced in the early Netherlandish tradition.
At its core, the painting functions as a contemplative religious icon, inviting the viewer to focus on Mary as an object of veneration. The intimate scale of the support, just under fifteen centimeters in both dimensions, reinforces its character as a private devotional object rather than a large altarpiece, encouraging close, sustained looking at the figure.
Technique & Style
Holy Mary is executed in oil paint on an oakwood support, a combination typical of small devotional panels produced in the early sixteenth-century Netherlandish tradition. The work is modest in scale, measuring 14.9 cm in height by 14.8 cm in width, a format consistent with intimate private devotion rather than altarpiece display. Its genre is religious, depicting the Virgin Mary.
The painting is held in the Bavarian State Painting Collections at the Alte Pinakothek, where its small dimensions and panel support are preserved under museum conditions. No further information regarding the handling of the paint, surface condition, or stylistic qualities is documented in the available sources.
History & Provenance
Adriaen Isenbrandt painted this religious work in 1520 as an oil painting on oakwood, depicting the Virgin Mary. The Bavarian State Painting Collections own the piece, which has been housed in the Alte Pinakothek since its inception.
The work's creation history aligns with early 16th-century Netherlandish religious art, reflecting devotional practices of the period. Its dimensions measure 14.9 centimeters in height and 14.8 centimeters in width.
Holy Mary by Adriaen Isenbrandt belongs to the Bavarian State Painting Collections and is housed at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. The work, dated 1520, is catalogued within that institution's holdings. No further exhibition history is documented in the available sources.
The painting is executed in oil paint on oakwood, a small devotional panel measuring 14.9 cm in height by 14.8 cm in width, consistent with its religious subject matter depicting Mary.
Overview
Created around 1520, Holy Mary is an oil painting by Adriaen Isenbrandt, a Bruges‑based artist working at the cusp of the Early Netherlandish and Northern Renaissance periods. The work presents a close‑up portrait of a woman in a white headscarf, set against a dark, unadorned background, and is currently housed in the Alte Pinakothek.
Artist & collection
Artist
Adriaen Isenbrandt or Adriaen Ysenbrandt (between 1480 and 1490 – July 1551) was a painter in Bruges, in the final years of Early Netherlandish painting, and the first of the Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting of the Northern…
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