Saint Anne with the Virgin and Child The Master of the Doors of Altötting

This large-scale, carved oak relief depicts the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne. The relief may once have functioned as the wing of an altar. In the foreground, we see Saint Anne and the Virgin, with a pomegranate – the symbol of Mary – in their hands. Between them stands the naked Christ Child, with a string of pearls around his neck. Depicted in a Gothic interior, the group of figures may have been modelled on a 1513 work by Hans Leinberger, on the Altar of Saint Anne in the Franciscan nunnery church in Ingolstadt, Upper Bavaria. This altar established a type, which then served as a model for many variants, including the relief in Budapest. The style of the relief – with its powerful figures and characteristic drapery – shows an affinity with the reliefs of the northern gate of the church in Altötting, whose master has been identified by researchers as the wood sculptor Matthäus Kreniss.