Madonna of the Cherries

The Virgin firmly embraces the Christ Child, a robust nude infant who wraps both arms around his mother’s neck and kisses her; she delicately flourishes cherries, the fruit of Paradise whose bright colour alludes to the blood of Christ’s future sacrifice. They occupy a splendid throne of richly coloured marble adorned with gold foliate tracery and cut gems, enclosed by silk curtains, with an arched window at left opening onto a lush landscape with a lake and palace. Long thought lost and only recently identified, this sumptuous depiction of the familial bond between the Virgin and Christ Child is among Quentin Metsys’s most beautiful and celebrated paintings; the Madonna of the Cherries theme derives from a lost composition by Leonardo da Vinci. The painting is held in the J. Paul Getty Museum.