The Virgin and Child with Four Holy Virgins

Saints in paintings usually hold their emblems in their hands. Here, around the Virgin and Child, the four holy women wear them as jewellery. Saint Catherine has her wheel and sword pinned to her dress as a brooch. Saint Cecilia, patron of music, wears a small organ on a necklace, Saint Barbara a tower, and Saint Ursula a heart pierced by an arrow. They sit in a fenced-off, paved courtyard that stands in for the enclosed garden, the old image of Mary's virginity, and outside the fence two more saints appear, one probably Margaret with her dragon. Ursula's prominence is a clue to where the panel was made. She was especially venerated in Delft, which supports the idea of a Delft commission around 1495 to 1500. By 1801 the picture was in the museum's collection.