Unknown Master – St Luke Painting the Virgin and Child

Uncover the meaning behind the sixteenth-century triptych, St Luke Painting the Madonna, a cherished piece within The Phoebus Foundation collection. Through the meticulous restoration skills of Sven Van Dorst and the comprehensive art historical research conducted by Niels Schalley, this masterpiece is now revealed in its full historical and artistic glory.

Unknown master, triptych with Saint Luke Painting the Virgin (centre), Madonna Lactans (left) and a Praying Benedictine Monk (right), c. 1520–1530.
A devotional triptych showing Saint Luke at his easel in the central panel, flanked by the Virgin Mary with the Christ Child and a kneeling monk, all set within gold-framed panels against gently unfolding landscape backgrounds. — Unknown Master, *St Luke Painting the Virgin and Child Triptych*, centre: *St Luke Painting the Virgin and Child*; left wing: *Virgo Lactans*; right wing: *Benedictine Monk in Prayer*, c.1520-1530

Detail of the left-hand panel: the Holy Spirit shown as a white dove with outstretched wings, surrounded by golden rays against a dark background. — Detail of the left wing

Detail of the left-hand panel (Madonna Lactans): Mary, crowned with a golden halo, nurses the Christ Child, who also bears a halo. The scene is rendered as an intimate and tender devotional image set against a dark background. — *Virgo Lactans*

Detail of the central panel (Saint Luke Painting the Virgin): Saint Luke, shown with a halo and dressed in red and blue, paints Mary with the Christ Child at an easel in his studio, surrounded by painting tools and a view opening onto a landscape. — *St Luke Painting the Virgin and Child*

Detail of the right-hand panel (Praying Benedictine Monk): a portrait of a monk in a black habit, hands folded in prayer, set against a gentle landscape of trees and rolling hills, rendered in a restrained devotional style. — *Benedictine Monk in Prayer*

Unknown master, Closed Triptych with Skull and Bone, c. 1520–1530.
A stark, confrontational image of a human skull with a crossed bone on the closed wings of a triptych, painted against a dark background as a sober memento mori. — Exterior of the wings: *Skull and Bone*, c.1520-1530

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