The Master of the St. Ursula Legend, a Flemish painter of the second half
of the XV century, derives his name from the famous altarpiece in the
Convent of the Black Sisters in Bruges representing the history of St.
Ursula, a work painted about 1470. The anonymous master of the Bruges
altarpiece shows to some extent the influence of Memling; his style,
however, is thoroughly personal in its naivete and admirable expression of
a good-natured temperament. His character is well seen in such a painting
as ours, where the Mother is full of modesty, her face expressing a
tender, timid love for her child, who does not embrace her after all, not
the most natural thing for a baby to do, but amuses himself with playing
with the leaves of a book which the Madonna holds. The Virgin is a
home-like, simple type, wholesome if not beautiful.
[Madonna and Angels. Atelier of Jean Bourdichon, 1457-1521]