St. Luke Painting the Madonna

Painters in the Netherlands belonged to guilds named after Saint Luke, because an old legend held that the evangelist had painted the Virgin from life. Gossaert had entered the painters' guild of Antwerp in 1503, and here he shows the patron of his trade at work. Luke kneels at a desk in a red robe, with an angel behind him resting a hand on his arm. On the desk lies a drawing of Mary and the Child, which the Kunsthistorisches Museum describes as just finished with the angel's help.

Mary does not sit for him in the room. She appears in a cloud, holding the Child, while two small angels carry a crown above her head. The museum notes that showing her as a vision was unusual in the Netherlands at the time and points to Italian models. The room itself is Italian too, all carved pilasters and round arches, and in a niche above the saint stands a statue of Moses holding the tablets of the law. Luke's sandals lie on the floor beside him. Like Moses before the burning bush, he has taken them off because the ground he kneels on is holy. Along the hem of Mary's mantle runs a line of Latin letters, some of them written in reverse, that spells out nothing at all.