Virgin and Child Seated at the Foot of a Tree

The Virgin gazes into the eyes of her son as she tilts his head toward her own. Seated in her arms, he holds an apple in his right hand behind his back. A tree nearby bears a plaque, tied with a ribbon to a branch, that is inscribed with the artist's monogram and the date.

In this engraving the artist melded Italian and Northern sources. Gossart's image is a variation of Dürer's engraving of the same theme. Gossart also used Italian sculpture as a source which he would have seen in Florence: Michelangelo's relief Madonna of the Stairs, and Donatello's Pazzi Madonna.