Pieter Coecke van Aelst d. Ä., 1502/07 Aalst –... Lot n° 289

Maria lactans in front of a city Oil on wood. Parquet. 62 x 47,5 cm. Verso with a red and a blue seal. In ebonized profile frame. At a table, whose top plate extends far beyond the frame and contributes to the three-dimensional impression of the painting by overlapping Mary's womb, Mary is seated on the right with her breast exposed. This she leads tenderly to the Christ child, who lies in her arm to nourish him. On the table next to a faience vase with a lily attributed to her - as a sign of her purity - several fruits of Christian symbolic character. On the right, a tree with its branches overhangs the group of people and thus formally replaces the cloth of honor, which was previously common. On the left in the middle ground a hortus conclusus, which plays an overriding role in the symbolism of Mary and appears in the Song of Songs in the Old Testament (Hld 4,12): "My sister, dear bride, you are a closed garden, a closed spring, a sealed well". Accordingly, the angel of the Annunciation is depicted entering the only opening in the wall in the direction of Mary with the Child. On the wall of the Hortus conclusus and in the garden itself we also see a peacock, which in turn is considered a symbol of immortality, since its flesh is said to be incorruptible (Augustine, de civit Dei 21,4). The garden belongs to a city, which is introduced by a church tower and has its temporary end in a high castle, before the horizon is marked by a chain of hills. The motif of Maria Lactans has come down to us from van Aelst or his workshop and successors in several pictorial works, although the motif of the baby Jesus romping on Mary's lap and reaching for an apple is more common. (1330153) (13) Pieter Coecke van Aelst the Elder, 1502/07 Aalst - 1550 Brussels, attributed THE NURSING MADONNA OUTSIDE A CITY Oil on panel. Parquetted. 62 x 47.5 cm. Verso with a red and a blue seal. Several depictions of the Nursing Madonna by van Aelst or his workshop and followers are known, although the motif of the Christ Child frolicking on the Virgin's lap, reaching for the apple, is more common.