Workshop of Albert Cornelis, 'The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne', possibly about 1520

The Virgin Mary, Christ Child and Saint Anne, the Virgin’s mother, sit in a small ‘paradise’ garden. Saint Anne holds a fruit, probably a pear, in one hand and reaches out to Christ with the other. A book lies open on her knees.

The garden is edged by a turf bench supported by bricks, on which Anne is seated. A slightly ramshackle but peaceful farmyard lies behind, with ducks in a pond and a towered farm house. A man sits on a bench reading a book while another leans on the side of the porch, apparently chatting to a man who tends a donkey. A fourth man comes in through a gate in the wall.

The scene is derived from a painting possibly by Jan Provoost, of which several versions survive, but this picture seems closer in style to Albert Cornelis. He may have acquired or rented a popular ‘pattern’ from another workshop.