The Madonna in Art

Paintings of Mary and the infant Christ give Estelle May Hurll a way to study how artists express motherhood. Her illustrated survey organizes these images first by their composition, from portraits and enthroned figures to heavenly scenes, landscapes and domestic interiors. A second grouping considers the relationship between mother and child: affection, reverence and Mary's role as witness to her son's destiny. The two approaches let readers compare the arrangement of a picture with the feeling it conveys.

Hurll discusses works by painters including Raphael, Giovanni Bellini and Filippino Lippi. In the pastoral examples, a rose garden, distant hills and attendant angels help shape the scene; in a Flemish interior, a bed, fire and hanging kettle give the subject a household setting. Readers interested in Christian imagery or the study of painting can use these concrete descriptions to look more closely at setting, gesture and symbolism.