The Holy Kinship

'The depiction of the Virgin and Child with St Anne has been extended to show the so-called Holy Kindred, the relations of Jesus. The subject is based on the medieval Trinumbium legend, according to which the Virgin's mother Anna was married three times: with Joachim (the Virgin's father), with Cleophas and Salomas, with whom she had Mary Cleophas and Mary Salomas respectively. They are all depicted on the painting together with their husbands Joseph, Alphaeus, Zebedaeus and their respective children, who will also be listed and who in part later became disciples of Christ: James the Less, Joseph Justus (or Barnabas), Simon Zelotes and Judas Thaddaeus (Mary Cleophas, left), James and John the Evangelist (Mary Salome, right).

The architecture is neither topographically nor functionally convincing, but conceived rather as a decorative element. There is an area separated by a wall in the foreground, which is occupied by the women and children, whereas the men - with the exception of Zebedaeus, who is reading - look on from outside. This area is set before an open hall with round arches. The spandrels are decorated with medallions showing unidentified portraits in profile. [...] At the top edge of the painting there is a four-span shield containing three coats-of-arms, which Albrecht of Brandenburg often had incorporated into other paintings.'

[Exhib. Cat. Aschaffenburg 2007, 269]