Virgin and Child with Four Angels by Gerard David

This is Gerard David's 'Virgin and Child with Four Angels,' a jewel-like oil painting completed around 1510, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is a masterpiece of Early Netherlandish art by a painter who was a superstar in his day, then utterly forgotten for centuries.

Look at the fine detail: the golden crown being lowered onto Mary's head, the two angels serenading her with a harp and a lute. David painted a contemporary skyline of Bruges in the distance. The garden is a traditional symbol of Mary's purity, a walled paradise.

When David died in 1523, he left behind a successful workshop. But his name faded. This painting vanished into private collections. It roared back into view at a Paris auction in 1909, sparking a bidding war and selling for a staggering price to the Rothschilds. It stayed in their collection until 1977, when it was donated to the Met.

A painting made for silent monastic devotion now sits in the heart of Manhattan. What do you think a Carthusian monk from 1510 would make of that?

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