Description:
religion - Christian; woman; boy; interior
Label Text:
This small work, attributed to Adrien Ysenbrandt, is a beautifully sensitive rendering of the Virgin suckling the baby Jesus. The theme of the Virgin nursing Christ was widespread throughout the late Middle Ages, as it emphasized the emotional bond between mother and son which had not previously been displayed as such. However, breastfeeding one’s own child in 16th-century Flanders, when this painting was made, was regarded as a mark of poverty, and families with means generally hired wet nurses who would take care of children. Therefore, this image of the Virgin nursing her own child would have served at the time to define a new model to be emulated by devout women.
While the Virgin lovingly nurses her child, Joseph, leading a donkey, is shown in the background, in keeping with his secondary role in early Christian doctrine. The Virgin had been regarded as merely a vessel of God, the vehicle of Christ’s incarnation. Artists therefore often depicted Christ as a miniature adult seated or standing on his mother’s lap. As Mary’s role developed during the late Middle Ages, so did her humanity. As this more human relationship between Christ and the Virgin emerged we find them depicted as a real human baby coddled by his loving mother.
Religious symbolism in art, however, did not disappear with secularization. Instead, everyday identifiable objects replaced complex religious iconography. In this painting the fruit in the bowl could be seen as a metaphor for the Virgin as the provider of nourishment for Christ. If the grapes suggest the blood of Christ as symbolized in the wine of the Eucharist, they would also now be understood as referring not only to his ultimate sacrifice, but also hers, as a mother suffering the death of her son by crucifixion. HKDV
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+1975.21 |
