Virgin and Child with Saints Catherine of Alexandria and Barbara

Mary in a red robe holds the Christ Child on a throne before a brocade cloth of honor. Kneeling at left, a saint in a patterned gold gown rests her hand on a wheel-like object, while at right a veiled saint reads a book beside a small tower. Angels play a harp and a lute, and a donor-like man stands at far left against a bright landscape with trees and a distant town.

Look closer: A small tower and a distant walled town appear in the landscape on the left.

Artist

Hans Memling

Date

early 1480s

Medium

Oil on wood

Source

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Size

4000 × 3737 px

Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bequest of Benjamin Altman, 1913