Madonna and the Child

Abstract

The painting in question is attributed to the workshop of an anonymous Cracovian painter called Master of the Virgin Mary from the St. Mark's Church in Cracow. It was probably created in the third quarter of the 15th century, and in iconographic terms it represents the type of Our Lady of Hodegetria, i.e. She who points the Way. The high altar, in which the work is currently located, dates back to the second half of the 17th century (or more precisely, to the fourth quarter of this century) and is under the invocation of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. The painting was placed in it between 1703 and 1727, earlier it was in the now non-existing altar of Saint Barbara. In 1748 it was decorated with a wooden, carved (then silver-plated) and gilded robe. In 1987, the painting underwent restoration by professor Małgorzata Schuster-Gawłowska.