Part 1 (1/2)

The Madonna in Art

by Estelle M Hurll

PREFACE

This little book is intended as a companion volume to ”Child-Life in Art,” and is a study of Madonna art as a revelation of endary incidents in the life of the Virgin it has nothing to do These subjects have been discussed comprehensively and finally in Mrs Jaends of the Madonna” Out of the great mass of Madonna subjects are selected, here, only the idealized and devotional pictures of the Mother and Babe Thesuch works are explained in the Introduction

Great pains have been taken to choose as illustrations, not only the pictures which are universal favorites, but others which are less widely known and not easily accessible

The cover was designed by Miss Isabelle A Sinclair, in the various colors appropriate to the Virgin Mary The lily is the Virgin's flower, _la fleur de Marie_, the highest sy the panel is copied from the ornamentation of the mantle worn by Botticelli's Dresden Madonna

ESTELLE M HURLL

_New Bedford, Mass, May, 1897_

INTRODUCTION

It is now about fifteen centuries since the Madonna with her Babe was first introduced into art, and it is safe to say that, throughout all this time, the subject has been unrivalled in popularity It requires no very profound philosophy to discover the reason for this The Madonna is the universal type of motherhood, a subject which, in its very nature, appeals to all classes and conditions of people No one is too ignorant to understand it, and none too wise to be superior to its charm The little child appreciates it as readily as the old man, and both, alike, are drawn to it by an irresistible attraction Thus, century after century, the artist has poured out his soul in this all-prevailing theme of mother love until we have an accureat that no one would dare to estimate their nu since exhausted; but the end is not yet So long as we have mothers, art will continue to produce Madonnas

With so much available ed at the outset were it not possible to approach the subject systematically Even the vast nueable when studied by some method of classification Several plans are possible The historical student is naturally guided in his grouping by the periods in which the pictures were produced; the critic, by the technical schools which they represent Besides these more scholarly methods, are others, founded on si lines Such are the two proposed in the following pages, for, respectively, Part I and Part II of our little volume

The first is based on the style of composition in which the picture is painted; the second, on the subject which it treats The first exaures; the second asks, what is the real relation between them? The first deals with external characteristics; the second, with the inner significance

Proceeding by the first, we ask, what are the general styles of treatment in which Madonna pictures have been rendered? The answer na five classes:

1 The Portrait Madonna, the figures in half-length against an indefinite background

2 The Madonna Enthroned, where the setting is some sort of a throne or dais

3 The Madonna in the Sky or the ”Madonna in Gloria,” where the figures are set in the heavens, as represented by a glory of light, by clouds, by a company of cherubs, or by simple elevation above the earth's surface

4 The Pastoral Madonna, with a landscape background

5 The Madonna in a Ho is an interior

The foregoing subjects are arranged in the order of historical development, so far as is possible The first and last of the classes enumerated are so snificant in the whole nu these lines that future art isthe portrait Madonna because of its universal adaptability, and representing the Madonna in her home, in an effort to realize, historically, the New Testa three, the enthroned Madonna is, doubtless, the largest class, historically considered, because of the long period through which it has been represented The pastoral and enskied Madonnas were in high favor in the first period of their perfection

Our next question is concerned with the aspects of motherhood displayed in Madonna pictures: in what relation to her child has the Madonna been represented? The answer includes the following three subjects:

1 The Madonna of Love (The Mater Amabilis), in which the relation is purely maternal The emphasis is upon a mother's natural affection as displayed towards her child

2 The Madonna in Adoration (The Madre Pia), in which theher child with awe