3-016-005 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The Virgin on the crescent with a sceptre and a starry crown, 1516. The Virgin stands on a crescent moon, holding Christ in her arms (he holds an apple). She holds a sceptre, and wears a high crown topped with stars. Light streams out from behind her in an aureole or mandala. This reflects the 'woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars', often identified with the Virgin, in the Book of Revelations (12:1).