Virgin and Child, Meester van de Lastige Kinderen (attributed to), Gianfrancesco Rustici (attributed to), c. 1500 - c. 1525
The nude infant Jesus playfully draws his mother’s attention by pulling her bodice open. Mary’s bare breast refers to her role as ‘Virgo lactans’, the suckling virgin. The role of her divine motherhood became popular through Saint Bernard of Clairvaux’s wondrous vision in which he received a drop of milk from the Virgin’s breast.