The Virgin and Child (Maria lactans)

'The painting [...] depicts a motif, which is very common in medieval art: the Mother of God nursing. Far more than just an expression of the intimate relationship between mother and child and the human side of the Virgin, it can also be linked to mystical thoughts, which are, among others, expressed in the Legend of St Bernhard (the scene where milk is donated). The basis for depictions of this type is found in the blessing of the Virgin's breasts in Lk 11 27 and in Paul's metaphor of the milk in 1 Cor 3 2 and served both possibilities - the human interpretation as well as the mystical one (milk as the Christian doctrine, the church as nursing mother) - as a starting point.

There are numerous examples of similar sized paintings exhibiting the same composition, which suggests that the prototype was an original work by Cranach the Elder, now lost. The painting in Aschaffenburg belongs among the later versions in the series [...].'

[Exhib. Cat. Aschaffensburg 2007, 277]