The Virgin and Child

The painting depicts - as is expressed in the Latin title - the Virgin breastfeeding the infant Christ. She is shown as a half-length figure, holding the naked child in her right arm, while offering him her breast with the splayed fingers of her left hand. Her head is inclined to the right and she looks out at the viewer. The child is shown drinking with his eyes wide open and he is also looking out of the image. In the background two angels hold up a cloth - a motif that occurs repeatedly in art history: on the one hand it confers dignity and as such serves as an established motif for sovereignty, on the other hand it is also a visual device to accentuate the three dimensional quality of the figures. [http://www.dommuseum.at/de/sammlungen/dioezesanesammlung/?o=34]