Imaginary Landscape

Reduced to ant-like scale, the Madonna and child serve as mere measuring sticks for gauging the vast wilderness surrounding them on their way to Egypt. The heightened perspective, peering into the valley in the background, also helps reveal the daunting immensity of the landscape. In the theology of nature, which was very popular in early modern Europe, the so-called infinite landscape was interpreted as a revelation of God.

Credit: Gift of the Muschenheim Family, in memory of Linda A. Muschenheim, Docent 1971-1977