As is usual with images of the Virgin and Child, this picture is full of symbolic meaning. The apple in the foreground clearly refers to the Fall of Man, while the cherries held by the Christ Child represent the Fruits of Paradise. The cornfield in the background may be an allusion to the Eucharist, while the peasants and soldiers refer to the ‘Miracle of the Corn’ by which the Holy Family was supposedly protected from pursuit during the Flight into Egypt (H. Wentzel, ‘Die Kornfeldlegende’ in 'Festschrift Kurt Bauch'). There are numerous versions by various artists of the same composition, all of which are thought ultimately to derive from a lost design by Leonardo da Vinci. Other versions of this painting exist as workshop copies made in the studio of Joos van Cleve dating from the early sixteenth century. This painting may have been executed rather later since the technique is not similar to that of van Cleve himself and so is more likely to be by an imitator. Joos van Cleve was one of the most important artists working in Antwerp during the early decades of the sixteenth century and his images, particularly those of the Virgin and Child and the Holy Family, were influential for much of that century.