Catalan School, c. 1530-1540

'Montserrat', or 'Serrated Mountain', refers to the jagged appearance of a mountain in Catalonia, Spain. The important Benedictine abbey there, Santa Maria de Montserrat, houses the Virgin of Montserrat sanctuary -- according to Arthurian Legend, this was the location of the Holy Grail, and therefore a major pilgrimage destination in the 14th and 15th centuries. In the present picture, the Christ Child holds the most common iconographic motif associated with Montserrat -- a hand saw he uses to cut into the mountain, thereby explaining its unusual shape.
We are grateful to Professor Felipe Pereda for his assistance with this catalogue entry.