The grouping of the Virgin's mother, Saint Anne, with the Virgin and the Christ Child emphasized the role of Saint Anne and was very popular in Germany, where it was known as "Anna Selbdritt" (roughly, Anna Three-in-One).
Much of the wood sculpture of the time was intended to be painted.  The great German sculptor Riemenschneider was the first to experiment seriously with leaving the wood unpainted, thereby emphasizing the play of volumes more than surface decoration.
<bdi><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Tilman_Riemenschneider" class="extiw" title="w:en:Tilman Riemenschneider"><span title="German sculptor and woodcarver (c.1460-1531)">Tilman Riemenschneider</span></a> and workshop
</bdi>
circa 1510 <div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1510-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1480,Q5727902</div> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Renaissance" class="extiw" title="w:en:Renaissance"><span title="cultural movement that spanned the period roughly from the 14th to the 17th century">Renaissance</span></a><div style="display: none;">era QS:P2348,Q4692</div>)
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Walters_Art_Museum" class="extiw" title="w:en:Walters Art Museum"><span title="art museum in Baltimore, Maryland, United States">Walters Art Museum</span></a>: <a href="https://thewalters.org/" rel="nofollow"><img alt="Nuvola filesystems folder home.svg" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Nuvola_filesystems_folder_home.svg/20px-Nuvola_filesystems_folder_home.svg.png" decoding="async" width="20" height="20" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Nuvola_filesystems_folder_home.svg/30px-Nuvola_filesystems_folder_home.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Nuvola_filesystems_folder_home.svg/40px-Nuvola_filesystems_folder_home.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128"></a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://thewalters.org/">Home page</a> <a href="https://art.thewalters.org/detail/27077" rel="nofollow"><img alt="Information icon.svg" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/20px-Information_icon.svg.png" decoding="async" width="20" height="20" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/30px-Information_icon.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/40px-Information_icon.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="620" data-file-height="620"></a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://art.thewalters.org/detail/27077">Info about artwork</a>