Madonna of the Dry Tree

Around 1462 Petrus Christus and his wife joined a religious brotherhood in Bruges devoted to Our Lady of the Dry Tree, and this tiny panel was made for them. It is barely larger than a hand. The Virgin stands holding the Child inside a bare, thorny tree with no leaves on it, a reference to a withered tree in the Book of Ezekiel that was expected to bloom again, read here as Mary reversing the fall of Eve. Look closely and 15 small golden letters A hang among the thorns, each one an Ave, the opening word of the prayer to Mary. The brotherhood met in a chapel in the Franciscan church, which was destroyed during the religious wars of 1578, long after this little picture had left it.