The Virgin of Humility

Seated on the ground to emphasise her humility, the Virgin holds her breast toward the Christ Child with one hand, while touching His feet with the other. The Child’s feet, emphasised in this way, was a common device in painting throughout the late Middle Ages. The feet of Holy figures, notably of Christ and the Virgin, often formed the focus of devotions throughout the period as accessible points of spiritual and, in some cases, physical contact between the devout and the Divine. Presented to the viewer, Christ’s feet also referenced His later Passion, encouraging the devout to meditate on the Child’s future suffering. The artist seems to have modified this composition from the underdrawing, painting the Christ Child’s hand over the drawn hand of the Virgin. The present figures thus perhaps originally appeared more like those in van Hemessen’s Virgin and Child dated to 1544 in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, before the painter modified the present composition to show the tender interaction between the figures.

The picture was, until now, only known from a copy sold from the collection of Georges-Emmanuel Lang at Hôtel Drouot, Paris, on 28 January 1926, lot 207.