Madonna del Suffragio

This painting of the Madonna was the central panel of a triptych now dismantled, the wings of which depicted the Adoration and the Visitation. The unusual subject where the milk from the Virgin's breasts is directed toward souls in Purgatory is found largely in Spain and the Neapolitan area of Italy. The pomegranate motif developed into a vase form as seen on the Virgin's mantle is found in Italian and Spanish brocades of the sixteenth century. After the altarpiece was taken apart, the central panel was also cut down, leaving only parts of two kneeling nuns and the narrow slits of a landscape.