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MEMLING, Hans: Virgin with the Child Reaching for his Toe

🖼 Virgin with the Child Reaching for his Toe, 1490s
Oil on oak panel
24.1 × 17.8 cm
New York, United States

Tender intimacy captures mother and child in soft light, the infant's playful gesture toward his own foot rendered with meticulous Flemish detail. Memling's devotional image merges human warmth with spiritual reverence, establishing the intimate Madonna type that defined Northern Renaissance piety.

The story of art
The story of art
E. H. Gombrich
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