The Madonna in Art | Page 2

would dare to estimate their number. It would seem that every
conceivable type was long since exhausted; but the end is not yet. So
long as we have mothers, art will continue to produce Madonnas.
With so much available material, the student of Madonna art would be
discouraged at the outset were it not possible to approach the subject
systematically. Even the vast number of Madonna pictures becomes
manageable 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 simpler and more obvious
dividing lines. Such are the two proposed in the following pages,
forming, 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 examines
the mechanical arrangement of the figures; 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 names the
following 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 Home Environment, where the setting 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 small, compared with the others, that they are
somewhat insignificant in the whole number of Madonna pictures. Yet,
in all probability, it is along these lines that future art is most likely to
develop the subject, choosing the portrait Madonna because of its
universal adaptability, and representing the Madonna in her home, in an
effort to realize, historically, the New Testament scenes. Of the
remaining 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 the mother's
attitude is one of humility, contemplating her child with awe.
3. The Madonna as Witness, in which the Mother is preëminently the
Christ-bearer, wearing the honors of her proud position as witness to
her son's great destiny.
These subjects are mentioned in the order of philosophical climax, and
as we go from the first to the second, and from the second to the third,
we advance farther and farther into the experience of motherhood. At
the same time there is an increase in the dignity of the Madonna and in
her importance as an individual. In the Mater Amabilis she is
subordinate to her child, absorbed in him, so to speak; his infantine
charms often overmatch her own beauty. When she rises to the
responsibilities of her high calling, she is, for the time being, of equal
interest and importance. Æsthetically, she is now even more attractive
than her child, whose seriousness, in such pictures, takes something
from his childlikeness. Chronologically, our list reads backwards, as
the religious aspect of Mary's motherhood was the first treated in art,
while the naturalistic conception came last. Regarded as expressive of
national characteristics, the Mater Amabilis is the Madonna best
beloved in northern countries, while the other two subjects belong
specially to the art of the south.
It will be seen that any number of Madonna pictures, having been
arranged in the five groups designated in
Part I., may be gathered up
and redistributed in the three classes of
Part II. To make this clear,

the pictures mentioned in the first method of classification are
frequently referred to a second time, viewed from an entirely different
standpoint. Since the lines of cleavage are so widely dissimilar in the
two cases, both methods of