Possibly by Girolamo Genga, 'A Jesse-Tree', about 1535

In the Middle Ages, the Old Testament prophecy that the Messiah would spring from the family of Jesse, the father of King David, was interpreted visually as a family tree. The subject was more familiar in stained glass windows and large designs in mosaic or fresco than it was in smaller paintings.

Here, Jesse lies sleeping at the base of the tree which grows from his loins. The scene is set in a delicate rocky landscape of ghostly white buildings and golden foliage. The ancestors of Christ are shown emerging from the branches of the tree, the uppermost of which is occupied by the Virgin and Christ Child. The artist has taken pains to represent each of the ancestors as an individual with a unique pose and combination of objects. The ancestors of Christ are not represented in order of birth. They are, starting from bottom and moving left to right: Solomon (with a blue book); David (holding a sceptre); Uzziah (reading a green book); Jehosaphat (with his head in his hand); Rehoboam (holding a stone tablet); Jotham (with long white beard and pink cloak); Jehoram (with his hand raised); Asa (reaching towards Christ); Abijah (bending to touch a twig); Ahaz (holding a green book and pointing downward); Hezekiah (holding a sceptre and looking up at the Virgin); Manasseh (offering an orb).

This small picture is painted on parchment or paper, which was commonly used for manuscript illustration. The style and technique are also typical of manuscript illustration. The picture is painted in minute detail with tiny hatched and cross-hatched brushstrokes building up the depth of colour, and most of the decoration is picked out in gold. The rich blue pigment ultramarine used in the background is made from the semi-precious stone lapis lazuli and would probably have been more expensive than gold. The rich colours and gold details give the illustration a jewel-like appearance. It was clearly an expensive, precious and highly prized object. We do not know for whom it was made, or whether it was made as part of a book. The subject matter suggests that it might have been an illustration for a Bible or Book of Hours (a collection of texts, prayers and psalms for Christian devotion).

The painting was once believed to be by the miniaturist Giulio Clovio but there is no evidence to suggest this was the case. It is more likely to be a late work by Girolamo Genga, an artist from Urbino. Genga worked for several important and wealthy clients including Pandolfo Petrucci, ruler of Siena, and Guidobaldo da Montefeltro and Francesco Maria I della Rovere, both dukes of Urbino.