Christian art
Michelangelo, Madonna and Child (1504)
Ever since the Third Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church, held in Ephesus in the year 431 CE, where Mary, mother of Jesus, became officially titled Θεοτόκος, “one who gave birth to God”, her cult grew and her image had became one of the most common symbols of veneration in Christianity. The particularly widespread representation of Mary holding an infant Jesus was known as Madonna with Child, or simply Madonna.
Michelangelo, as any talented Renaissance artist, had the majority of his orders coming from the higher-ups of the Roman Catholic Church. This depiction of Madonna and Child, ordered for an altar piece, is notable for being different from what was traditional at his time. Jesus is not cradled, he stands upright, only loosely held by Mary’s hand, ready to leave his mother and go into the world. Mary, instead of smiling at Jesus, does not even look at him. Instead, she appears sad, as if knowing her son’s future fate. I think this is certainly a better composition than the infant-holding happy Madonnas, as it hints at the suffering central to Christian faith.
This sculpture, since 1514, stands in The Church of Our Lady in Bruges, Belgium.