Madonna in a Garland of Flowers
The original, as its museum records it
Every line above is reproduced from the holding institution’s own catalogue entry, which is linked. Where their title, date or attribution differs from ours, theirs is the one printed here.
The file this print is made from
Sizes
About this painting
Brueghel's insects are painted life-size; his snowdrops, which open earliest in the year, stand beside hollyhocks that flower in summer. The most exactly observed thing here is the one thing that could not be observed: not a real garden but an eternal one.
Munich reads the white lily as purity, the Immaculate Conception — one exception to nature set inside another, the garland the faithful hung on her images.
Infrared found four putti, one reserved in each corner. Rubens added planks twenty-five centimetres wide and finished with eleven. The panel was widened to fit heaven.
Sources: Picture-within-picture format (black frame, cord) references the custom of garlanding images of the Virgin as a sign of reverence; also confirms Rubens painted Madonna/putti, Brueghel the garland · MPZ Digital (Museumspädagogisches Zentrum Bayern), 'Von Tulpen, Lilien und Grashüpfern' · Der Tagesspiegel, 'Coworking der Alten Meister' · Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek, 'Rubens, Brueghel and the Madonna in a Garland of Flowers'.
Printed on demand. Public-domain masterwork, reproduced from a 4,989 px master of the original. The whole image is printed — never cropped to fit the sheet — so every sheet carries an archival margin, and the dimensions and resolution listed above are the ones you receive.