Madonna and Child (detail; M 070) Postcard

In this detail from the centre of a Flemish painting, the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM) and infant Jesus are shown enthroned against an ornate tapestry of honour. Bruges, the painting's city of origin, was one of the leading centres of European woven textiles in the 15th century. Tapestries figure prominently in contemporary late Medieval and Northern Renaissance Flemish paintings. Entitled Virgo inter Virgines, this artwork was produced by an anonymous painter dubbed by scholars The Master of the Legend of St. Lucy (fl. ca. 1485). According to archival sources, the painting was installed in the Church of Our Lady (Dutch: Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk) in Bruges, Belgium, in 1489 on the altar of the Rhetoric Chamber of the Three Saints (De drie Sanctinnen). + Image Credit (M 070): Detail of Virgo inter Virgines [in Latin; La Vierge parmi les vierges in French; The (Blessed) Virgin among Virgins in English], by The Master of the Legend of St. Lucy (fl. c. 1435-1506/1509), oil on oak panel, 67.3"x42.5" (171 cm x 108 cm), c. 1488, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels, inv. 2576. From Wikimedia Commons {PD-Art|PD-Old-100}. The image file has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighbouring rights.