Madonna and Child

Lucas Cranach the Elder

National Gallery of Art

This painting shows the upper half of a woman and a standing infant. The woman stands behind a table while the infant stands on one leg on top of it. She holds the child steady with one arm. The woman has fair skin, long brown hair, and a serene expression as she looks down at the child. She wears a colorful dress with wide sleeves in shades of bright red, teal, and orange. With her other hand, she holds a bunch of green grapes towards the child. The unclothed infant has light skin and light hair, and it stands comfortably with one foot on the ground and the other resting on its knee, holding an apple in one hand and lifting a grape to its mouth in the other. The background is dark, and on the gray table at the bottom of the painting there is a glass of yellow liquid and another apple.