Maria mit Kind und Stifter

One of the numerous variants of the so-called Salting Madonna (London, National Gallery); the preliminary drawing of the left hand Mariae visible in the infrared reflectography corresponds to the London original only in the present copy, while the posture of the child is already changed as in later workshop repetitions. The male figure is usually identified with Joseph, although neither the activity nor the type corresponds to the traditionally established idea of the foster father. Rather, this person, whose portrait is individualized differently in each version, is the donor or patron, to whom the Madonna becomes present when he is immersed in the devotional book. Source