Artwork
Maria mit Kind (Kopie nach einem verlorenen Original) (Kopie nach)
Maria mit Kind (Kopie nach einem verlorenen Original) (Kopie nach) is an oil painting by the Northern Renaissance artist Quinten Metsys. It dates from 1512 and is held in the collection of the Alte Pinakothek. Created in 1512, this oil painting presents a mother and infant in a subdued interior.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The subject is rendered in oil on panel, a format well suited to the subtle modeling of flesh and drapery that such Marian imagery traditionally demands.
The painting depicts the Virgin Mary with the Christ Child, the central devotional pairing of Christian religious art known as the Madonna and Child. As a copy after a lost original, the work preserves the iconographic tradition of tender maternal intimacy between Mary and the infant Jesus, a theme that conveyed both the humanity of Christ and the maternal compassion of his mother to viewers in early sixteenth-century devotional practice.
The subject is rendered in oil on panel, a format well suited to the subtle modeling of flesh and drapery that such Marian imagery traditionally demands. Held by the Bavarian State Painting Collections in the Alte Pinakothek, the work continues the long lineage of Madonna and Child compositions that served as focal points for private devotion and as expressions of orthodox Catholic piety in the period around 1512.
Technique & Style
Executed in 1512, this religious painting by Quinten Metsys utilizes oil paint applied to a wooden panel support. The work measures 94 cm in height and 70.4 cm in width. Stylistically, the composition depicts the Madonna and Child, adhering to traditional iconography associated with the lost original it copies. The piece is currently held within the Bavarian State Painting Collections at the Alte Pinakothek.
History & Provenance
Quinten Metsys painted Maria mit Kind (Kopie nach einem verlorenen Original) in 1512 using oil paint on a panel. As indicated by its title, the artwork is a copy of a lost original composition. The work belongs to the religious genre and depicts the Madonna and Child.
The painting Maria mit Kind (Kopie nach einem verlorenen Original) is held by the Bavarian State Painting Collections at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. Created by Quinten Metsys in 1512, the work is part of the museum's permanent collection of religious art. The piece is executed in oil on panel and depicts the Madonna and Child.
While specific inventory or accession numbers are not provided in the available records, the work's presence is confirmed within the Alte Pinakothek's holdings as a copy after a lost original.
Overview
Created in 1512, this oil painting presents a mother and infant in a subdued interior. The figure of the woman, cloaked in dark, weighty garments, cradles a nursing child, her eyes gently closed. A modest setting, simple wooden furniture, a modest bed, and a small, latticed window, frames the intimate moment, rendered with soft illumination that highlights the contrast between the dark robes and the pale skin.
Context
Matsys, a central figure in the development of the Antwerp school, spent more than two decades working in that city. While known for moralizing subjects and occasional satire, his religious output, as exemplified by this painting, reflects the devotional climate of early sixteenth‑century Flanders.
Artist & collection
Artist
Quentin Matsys (UK: MAT-sysse, US: MAHT-sysse; also Massys or Metsys; Flemish: Quinten Matsijs; 1466–1530) was a Flemish painter in the Early Netherlandish tradition.
