Virgin and Child with Saints Barbara and Catherine

The Virgin Mary is shown on a throne, holding the Infant Jesus, between Barbara and Catherine of Alexandria, two saints popular in the early 16th century and considered the most important of the venerated Fourteen Holy Helpers.

Other indicators of the saints identities include the broken wheel - which refers to the torture of Catherine- and the tower, an allusion to Barbara's imprisonment and eventual beheading at the hands of her father.

[1] Because of the high perishability of linen cloth and the solubility of the hide glue used as a binder, this work, along with Dirk Bouts' Entombment (c. 1440–55), is rare surviving example of the technique.

The painting was built up in a two-stage process where layers of darker pigments over which progressively lighter tones were added.

This technique of dark to light is the opposite to the general approach with oils where darker colours are layered on lighter pigments.