This composition is a reduction of part of a well-known group of pictures by Rubens and his studio.  Only the Virgin and Child is used in the Schorr picture all the other figures being eliminated completely. The Royal Collection composition has been studied in great detail and it is possible to see how Rubens evolved the work through many changes of mind revealed by xray. The painting in the Prado, Madrid, which omits the St. Francis has not been examined by x-ray, but seems to have been less complex in its evolution and White, op.cit. 2008, p. 192, observed that “ it is possible that both paintings were begun simultaneously.

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