Madonna and Child with Saints Michael, Joseph, Joachim and Anne

Around 1524, when Europeans were keen to work out where on earth the sacred stories had taken place, Garofalo put a small globe in front of the Christ Child. It is divided in two. One half is sky, the other a wooded landscape with a tiny figure in it, which has been read as Christ praying in the garden on the night of his arrest. The white cloth beneath may hint at his shroud. Around this Garofalo gathers a family at half length, in the Venetian manner. Mary looks straight out at us, Joseph steadies the globe from the right, and behind them are two older faces that some identify as her parents, Joachim and Anne. On the left stands the archangel Michael in armour. In the stonework above his head, two seated figures are posed like prisoners, probably a reference to his defeat of the devil.