Artwork
Maria mit Kind
Maria mit Kind is an unspecified painting. It dates from 1455 and is held in the collection of the Bavarian State Painting Collections.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The painting depicts the Virgin Mary holding the Christ Child, a conventional subject in Christian iconography known as the Madonna and Child.
The painting depicts the Virgin Mary holding the Christ Child, a conventional subject in Christian iconography known as the Madonna and Child. Mary is shown in half-length, crowned, and cradling the infant Jesus, reflecting late medieval devotional types popular in Central Europe during the mid-15th century. The work’s small scale and intimate composition emphasize private veneration, aligning with contemporaneous practices of domestic piety in the German-speaking regions.
The use of lime panel and the refined rendering of drapery and facial features suggest an attribution to a Salzburg master working around 1450–1460, placing the work within the late Gothic tradition that emphasized tenderness and humanization of sacred figures.
Technique & Style
Executed in 1455, this religious painting is created on a lime panel support. The work measures 48 cm in height and 36.3 cm in width. Stylistically, the piece is attributed to the Salzburg Master, active around the mid-15th century, and depicts the Madonna and Child. The composition focuses on these two central figures within the conventions of religious art from this period.
History & Provenance
Created in 1455, this lime panel painting depicts the Madonna and Child and is attributed to the Salzburg Master, with stylistic dating often placed between 1450 and 1460. The work entered the collection of Otto Lanz at some point prior to its acquisition by the Bavarian State Painting Collections. It is currently housed in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich.
While the specific circumstances of its original commission remain undocumented in the available records, its religious genre and medium are consistent with devotional works produced in the Salzburg region during the mid-15th century.
The painting Maria mit Kind, attributed to the Salzburg Master, is held by the Bavarian State Painting Collections at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. It is dated to 1455 and depicts the Madonna and Child on a lime panel. The work was previously in the ownership of Otto Lanz before entering the state collection.
No specific inventory or accession number is provided in the available records, nor is there documented exhibition history for this piece in the current sources.
Overview
The work entitled Maria mit Kind is executed on a lime‑panel and depicts a woman cradling a small child. Both figures are rendered with a calm, solemn demeanor; the woman wears a jeweled crown, a necklace, a red dress beneath a blue mantle, while the child is clothed in green and white and clutches a red cloth.
Context
The use of a blue cloak and red dress reflects contemporary color symbolism, with blue often associated with divinity and red with royalty or sacrifice. Such iconography aligns the figure with established Marian representations in ecclesiastical art.
Legacy
While not widely reproduced, the painting contributes to the corpus of Marian imagery that informed later devotional artworks, illustrating the continued relevance of panel painting techniques in conveying religious narratives.
Artist & collection
