Description:
woman in long dress stands in landscape holding naked child to her chest; mother and child; family; landscape; nature; Renaissance inspired; children; mother
Label Text:
This extremely detailed wood engraving is based on an American “modern Madonna” painting by George de Forest Brush, who, shortly after his marriage to fellow artist Mary Taylor, turned his attention from depictions of heroic American Indians to representations of popular Renaissance subjects. His representation of his wife and daughter falls within the tradition of mother and child paintings, a favorite at the turn of the century. Thus we may compare this image to the way in which, in Northern Europe in the 17th century, the Virgin and Child were given more natural, secular characteristics to enhance people’s identification with them.
The “modern Madonna” was more than a creative re-interpretation of an age-old subject; it represented a significant socio-political shift within American 19th-century culture. Maternalism was a growing, mostly upper-class movement that emphasized the role of women in the proper upbringing of children. Organizations such as the National Congress of Mothers were paramount in placing motherhood upon a pedestal, hoping to improve the dire conditions in which some children were being brought up. Additionally, the growing emphasis on the educational role of women in the lives of their offspring was perceived by the church to be essential in the battle against the ongoing secularization of society. HKDV
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+1915.4.2 |
