Madonna with the Pear

Dürer shows the bust portrait of the Virgin Mary set against a black background, who with tenderly lowered gaze presents the venerated Infant Jesus on a cloth. In his left hand the child holds a pear slice symbolizing Jesus’ love, as Dürer presents it to us in the soft familiarity between mother and child. The gentle Madonna type and the child lolling in a supine position accord with late Gothic models, while the pale colouring and soft modeling are more of Italian origin.