Madonna and Child
Marianne Stokes, 1907-08, Wolverhampton
Art Gallery
Every detail of this painting compels us to pay attention. “Madonna
and Child” is a painting from the early 20th century, but its style and
inspiration reach back much further in time. Marianne Stokes, Austrian by
birth, Italian by training, and English by marriage, belonged to a group of
artists who were called the “Pre-Raphaelites” because they looked back to early
Italian Renaissance artists as their models.
In designing her Madonna and Child, Stokes looked reached further back in time to the classic iconographic composition known as “Hodegetria” (She who points the way), a tradition with origins in the 5th century. In these icons, Mary the Theotokus (God-bearer) is shown holding her child with one arm and pointing to him with her other hand. She both presents him to us and indicates to us that he is the one we should follow. In our painting, Mary pulls back a veil to reveal her son, who is both swaddled and shrouded in white cloth.
The pale yet peaceful faces of Jesus and Mary contrast with
the vivid colors of her robe. They confront us directly with serene expressions
of both utter compassion and deep foreboding. What do they contemplate as they
gaze at us so intently? The plants in the deep blue background give us some
inkling. Interlacing thorns already begin to weave themselves into the crown
that will surround the head of the son and pierce the heart of the mother. Fan-like
stems of Garden Angelica, also known as the “Holy Ghost” plant, rise through
the thorns. This medicinal herb, a remedy for snake bites, recalls the conception
of the divine Savior and reminds us of the oldest prophecy in the Bible, the “protoevangelium”
of Genesis 3:15 which presents us with the first messianic prophecy and points
us to the Gospel:
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between
your offspring and hers;
they will strike at your head, while you strike at
their heel.
H/T: Thanks to Pierre Marie Dumont in Magnificat, Dec. 2011
for identifying the Garden Angelica.
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