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{{Short description|Artistic representation of Mary, either alone or with her child Jesus}}
{{Redirect|The Madonna|the American musician|Madonna|the nickname|Madonna (nickname)|other uses|Madonna (disambiguation)}}
{{Distinguish|Madonna and contemporary arts}}
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[[File:Sandro Botticelli - The Virgin and Child (The Madonna of the Book) - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''[[Madonna of the Book]]'' by [[Sandro Botticelli]], 1480]]
{{Catholic marian prayers sidebar}}
[[File:Mary16thC.jpg|thumb|Our Mother of Perpetual Help, Icon of the Virgin Mary, 16th century. St. Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai.]]
[[File:Virgin salus populi romani.jpg|thumb|The ''[[Salus Populi Romani]]'' icon, overpainted in the 13th century, but going back to an underlying original dated to the 5th or 6th century]]
[[File:Madonna col bambino, palazzo medici riccardi, filippo lippi.jpg|thumb|''[[Madonna of Palazzo Medici-Riccardi|Madonna and Child]]'' by [[Filippo Lippi]] (15th century)]]

In Christian art, a '''Madonna''' ({{IPA|it|maˈdɔnna|lang}}) is a religious depiction of the [[Blessed Virgin Mary]] in a singular form or sometimes accompanied by the [[Child Jesus]]. These images are central [[icon]]s for both the [[Roman Catholic]] and [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] churches.<ref>Doniger, Wendy, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZP_f9icf2roC&pg=PA696 Merriam-Webster's encyclopedia of world religions] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221230143446/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZP_f9icf2roC&pg=PA696&dq= |date=2022-12-30 }}'', 1999, {{ISBN|0-87779-044-2}} p. 696.</ref> The word is {{ety|it|ma donna|my lady}} (archaic).  The '''Madonna and Child''' type is very prevalent in Christian [[iconography]], divided into many traditional subtypes especially in [[Eastern Orthodox iconography]], often known after the location of a notable icon of the type, such as the ''[[Theotokos of Vladimir]]'', ''[[Agiosoritissa]]'', ''[[Blachernitissa]]'', etc., or descriptive of the depicted posture, as in ''[[Hodegetria]]'', ''[[Eleusa icon|Eleusa]]'', etc.

The term ''Madonna'' in the sense of "picture or statue of the Virgin Mary" enters English usage in the 17th century, primarily in reference to works of the [[Italian Renaissance]]. In an Eastern Orthodox context, such images are typically known as ''[[Theotokos]]''. "Madonna" may be generally used of representations of Mary, with or without the infant Jesus, where she is the focus and central figure of the image, possibly flanked or surrounded by angels or saints. Other types of Marian imagery that have a narrative context, depicting scenes from the [[Life of the Virgin]], e.g. the [[Annunciation to Mary]], are not typically called "Madonna".

The earliest depictions of Mary date to [[Early Christian art]] of the (2nd to 3rd centuries, found in the [[Catacombs of Rome]].<ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=qd7EZAFouDgC&q=catacomb&pg=PA191 Mary in Western Art] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221230143446/https://books.google.com/books?id=qd7EZAFouDgC&pg=PA191&dq=#v=onepage&q=catacomb&f=false |date=2022-12-30 }}'' by Timothy Verdon, Filippo Rossi 2005 {{ISBN|0-9712981-9-X}} p. 11</ref> These are in a narrative context. The classical "Madonna" or "Theotokos" imagery develops from the 5th century, as [[Marian devotion]] rose to great importance after the [[Council of Ephesus]] formally affirmed her status as "[[Mother of God]] or ''Theotokos'' ("God-bearer") in 431.<ref>Burke, Raymond, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=ez0VRbQi1i4C Mariology: A Guide for Priests, Deacons, Seminarians, and Consecrated Persons] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221230143447/https://books.google.com/books?id=ez0VRbQi1i4C&pg= |date=2022-12-30 }}'' 2008 {{ISBN|1-57918-355-7}} {{page needed|date=April 2020}}</ref>  The ''Theotokos'' iconography as it developed in the 6th to 8th century rose to great importance in the high medieval period (12th to 14th centuries) both in the Eastern Orthodox and in the Latin spheres.

According to a tradition first recorded in the 8th century, and still strong in the Eastern Church, the iconography of images of Mary goes back to a portrait drawn from life by [[Luke the Evangelist]], with a number of icons (such as the ''[[Panagia Portaitissa]]'') claimed to either represent this original icon or to be a direct copy of it. In the Western tradition, depictions of the Madonna were greatly diversified by Renaissance masters such as [[Duccio]], [[Leonardo da Vinci]], [[Michelangelo]], [[Raphael]], [[Giovanni Bellini]], [[Caravaggio]], and [[Rubens]] (and further by certain modernists such as [[Salvador Dalí]] and [[Henry Moore]]), while Eastern Orthodox iconography adheres more closely to the inherited traditional types.

== Terminology ==
{{Further|Theotokos#Terminology|Titles of Mary|Queen of Heaven}}

Liturgy depicting Mary as powerful intercessor (such as the ''[[Akathist]]'') was brought from Greek into Latin tradition in the 8th century. The Greek title of Δεσποινα (''Despoina'') was adopted as Latin ''Domina'' "Lady". The medieval Italian ''Ma Donna'' {{IPA|it|maˈdɔnna|pron}} ("My Lady") reflects ''Mea Domina'', while ''Nostra Domina'' (δεσποινίς ἡμῶν) was adopted in French, as ''Nostre Dame'' "Our Lady".<ref>Johannes Schneider, ''Virgo Ecclesia Facta'', 2004,  [https://books.google.com/books?id=RfvSAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA74 p. 74] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221230143447/https://books.google.ch/books?id=RfvSAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA74&lpg=PA74 |date=2022-12-30 }}.
Michael O'Carroll, ''Theotokos: A Theological Encyclopedia of the Blessed Virgin Mary'', 2000, [https://books.google.com/books?id=xYlKAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA127 p. 127] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221230143451/https://books.google.ch/books?id=xYlKAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA127 |date=2022-12-30 }}.</ref>

These names signal both the increased importance of the cult of the virgin and the prominence of art in service to Marian devotion during the late medieval period. During the 13th century, especially, with the increasing influence of chivalry and aristocratic culture on poetry, song and the visual arts, the Madonna is represented as the queen of Heaven, often enthroned,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.35.html | title=Madonna and Child on a Curved Throne }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.41622.html | title=Madonna and Child Enthroned with Four Saints }}</ref> such as the [[Ognissanti Madonna]]. Madonna was meant more to remind people of the theological concept which is placing such a high value on purity or virginity. This is also represented by the color of her clothing. The color blue symbolized purity, virginity, and royalty.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://mymodernmet.com/shades-of-blue-color-history/ | title=The History of the Color Blue: From Ancient Egypt to the Latest Scientific Discoveries | date=12 February 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-jesus-mary-wear-red-blue-art-history | title=Why Jesus and Mary Always Wear Red and Blue in Art History | date=19 December 2018 }}</ref> [[Ultramarine]] was usually reserved for only the most important commissions, such as the blue robes of the Virgin Mary in [[Gerard David]]'s Virgin and Child with Female Saints.

While the Italian term ''Madonna'' paralleled English ''Our Lady'' in late medieval Marian devotion, it was imported as an [[Art history|art historical]] term into English usage in the 1640s, designating specifically the Marian art of the [[Italian Renaissance]]. In this sense, "a Madonna", or "a Madonna with Child" is used of specific works of art, historically mostly of Italian works. A "Madonna" may alternatively be called "Virgin" or "Our Lady", but "Madonna" is not typically applied to eastern works; e.g. the ''[[Theotokos of Vladimir]]'' may in English be called "Our Lady of Vladimir", while it is less usual, but not unheard of, to refer to it as the "Madonna of Vladimir".<ref>"Madonna of Vladimir" e.g. in Hans Belting, Edmund Jephcott; Edmund Jephcott (trans.) ''Likeness and Presence: A History of the Image Before the Era of Art'', University of Chicago Press, 1996, p. 289.</ref>

== Modes of representation ==
There are several distinct types of representation of the Madonna.
* One type of Madonna shows Mary alone (without the child Jesus), and standing, generally glorified and with a gesture of prayer, benediction or prophesy. This type of image occurs in a number of ancient apsidal [[mosaic]]s.
* Full-length standing images of the Madonna more frequently include the infant Jesus, who turns towards the viewer or raises his hand in benediction. The most famous Byzantine image, the [[Hodegetria]] was originally of this type, though most copies are at half-length. This type of image occurs frequently in sculpture and may be found in fragile ivory carvings, in limestone on the central door posts of many cathedrals, and in polychrome wooden or plaster casts in almost every Catholic Church. There are a number of famous paintings that depict the Madonna in this manner, notably the [[Sistine Madonna]] by [[Raphael]].
* The "Madonna enthroned" is a type of image that dates from the [[Byzantine]] period and was used widely in Medieval and Renaissance times. These representations of the Madonna and Child often take the form of large altarpieces. They also occur as frescoes and apsidal mosaics. In Medieval examples the Madonna is often accompanied by angels who support the throne, or by rows of saints. In Renaissance painting, particularly High Renaissance painting, the saints may be grouped informally in a type of composition known as a [[Sacra conversazione]].
* The [[Madonna of humility]] refers to portrayals in which the Madonna is sitting on the ground, or sitting upon a low cushion. She may be holding the Child [[Jesus]] in her lap.<ref>''Renaissance art: a topical dictionary'' by Irene Earls 1987 {{ISBN|0-313-24658-0}} p. 174</ref> This style was a product of [[Order of Saint Francis|Franciscan]] piety,<ref>''A history of ideas and images in Italian art'' by James Hall 1983 {{ISBN|0-06-433317-5}} p. 223</ref><ref>''Iconography of Christian Art'' by [[Gertrud Schiller]], 1971 {{ASIN|B0023VMZMA}} p. 112</ref> and perhaps due to [[Simone Martini]]. It spread quickly through Italy and by 1375 examples began to appear in Spain, France and Germany. It was the most popular among the styles of the early [[Trecento]] artistic period.<ref name=Meiss>''Painting in Florence and Siena after the Black Death'' by Millard Meiss 1979 {{ISBN|0-691-00312-2}} pp. 132–133</ref>
* Half-length Madonnas are the form most frequently taken by painted icons of the Eastern Orthodox Church, where the subject matter is highly formulated so that each painting expresses one particular attribute of the "Mother of God". Half-length paintings of the ''Madonna and Child'' are also common in [[Italian Renaissance painting]], particularly in [[Venice]].
* The seated "Madonna and Child" is a style of image that became particularly popular during the 15th century in [[Florence]] and was imitated elsewhere. These representations are usually of a small size suitable for a small altar or domestic use. They usually show Mary holding the infant Jesus in an informal and maternal manner. These paintings often include symbolic reference to the [[Passion of Christ]].
* The "Adoring Madonna" is a type popular during the Renaissance. These images, usually small and intended for personal devotion, show Mary kneeling in adoration of the Christ Child. Many such images were produced in glazed terracotta as well as paint. Examples include, [[Madonna Adoring the Sleeping Christ Child]] and [[Madonna Adoring the Child with Five Angels (Botticelli)]].
* The [[Nursing Madonna]], Virgo Lactans, or Madonna Lactans, is an iconography of the Madonna and Child in which the Virgin Mary is shown breastfeeding the infant Jesus. Examples include Leonardo da Vinci's [[Madonna Litta]].
* The iconography of the [[Woman of the Apocalypse]] is applied to [[Marian art in the Catholic Church|Marian]] portraiture in a variety of ways over time, depending on the interpretation of the relevant Biblical passage.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Roten |first1=Johann |title=Crescent Moon: Meaning : University of Dayton, Ohio |url=https://udayton.edu/imri/mary/c/crescent-moon-meaning.php |website=udayton.edu}}</ref>
* [[Hodegetria]], or Virgin Hodegetria, is an iconographic depiction of the Theotokos (Virgin Mary) holding the Child Jesus at her side while pointing to him as the source of salvation for humankind. In the Western Church this type of icon is sometimes called ''Our Lady of the Way''.
* [[Eleusa icon]], the '''Eleusa''' (or '''''Eleousa'''''; {{langx|el|Ἐλεούσα}} – ''tenderness'' or ''showing mercy'') is a type of depiction of the Virgin Mary in icons in which the Christ Child is nestled against her cheek. In the Western Church the type is often known as the ''Virgin of Tenderness''.
* The [[Rest on the Flight into Egypt]] is a subject in Christian art showing Mary, Joseph, and the infant Jesus resting during their flight into Egypt. The Holy Family is normally shown in a landscape. Examples include [[Rest on the Flight into Egypt (Caravaggio)]], and they often depict ''Virgo Lactans''.
* The term [[Black Madonna]] or Black Virgin tends to refer to statues or paintings in Western Christendom of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus, where both figures are depicted as black. The Black Madonna can be found both in Catholic and Orthodox countries, and may or may not be related to [[liberation theology]].
*[[Mary in Islam]], as [[Maryam (surah)|Maryam (Mary)]] is one of the most honored figures in Islamic theology she is exempt from [[aniconism in Islam]].
*Girlhood of Mary, is iconography that features the Virgin Mary as a child, often learning needlework, and examples include [[The Girlhood of Mary Virgin]], by artist [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]], which is of note that Mary is the obvious central figure.
*the [[Annunciation]] to the Blessed Virgin Mary, is iconography showing the announcement by the angel Gabriel to Mary that she would conceive and bear a son through a virgin birth. Examples include [[Ecce Ancilla Domini]].
*[[Death of the Virgin]], [[Assumption of the Virgin Mary in art]], [[Coronation of the Virgin]] although doctrine avoids stating whether Mary was alive or dead when she was bodily taken up to Heaven, she is normally shown in art as alive. Depicting the Coronation of Mary as Queen of the Heavens by her son, Jesus Christ, sometimes combined with the Assumption of Mary, is a tradition known since the 12th century. They often depict birds, as an appropriate image of God as the Holy Spirit.
*[[Holy Family]] is iconography of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. The example [[Holy Family with Saints Anne and John the Baptist (Mantegna)]] portrays their [[Presentation of Jesus at the Temple]] and includes other Saints in the image.
* [[Marian apparition]] the [[Our Lady of Guadalupe|Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe]] is the most-visited Catholic shrine in the world, and the venerated icon has a sunburst of straight and wavy gold rays alternate while projecting behind the Virgin and are enclosed within a [[mandorla]].

==History==
[[File:Anonymous Madonna with big breasts.jpg|thumb|Painting of the Madonna and Child by an anonymous Italian, first half of 19th century]]
The earliest representation of the Madonna and Child may be the wall painting in the [[Catacombs of Rome|Catacomb of Priscilla]], Rome, in which the seated Madonna suckles the Child, who turns his head to gaze at the spectator.<ref>Victor Lasareff, "Studies in the Iconography of the Virgin" ''The Art Bulletin'' '''20'''.1 (March 1938, pp. 26–65 [pp. 27f]).</ref>

The earliest consistent representations of Mother and Child were developed in the Eastern Empire, where despite an [[Byzantine iconoclasm|iconoclastic]] strain in culture that rejected physical representations as "[[idolatry|idols]]", respect for venerated images was expressed in the repetition of a narrow range of highly conventionalized types, the repeated images familiar as [[icon]]s ([[Greek language|Greek]] "image"). On a visit to Constantinople in 536, [[Pope Agapetus I|Pope Agapetus]] was accused of being opposed to the veneration of the ''theotokos'' and to the portrayal of her image in churches.<ref>m. Mundell, "Monophysite church decoration" ''Iconoclasm'' (Birmingham) 1977, p. 72.</ref> Eastern examples show the Madonna enthroned, even wearing the closed Byzantine pearl-encrusted crown with pendants, with the Christ Child on her lap.<ref>As in the fresco fragments of the lower [[Basilica di San Clemente]], Rome: see John L. Osborne, "Early Medieval Painting in San Clemente, Rome: The Madonna and Child in the Niche" ''Gesta'' '''20'''.2 (1981), pp. 299–310.</ref>

In the West, hieratic Byzantine models were closely followed in the Early Middle Ages, but with the increased importance of the cult of the Virgin in the 12th and 13th centuries a wide variety of types developed to satisfy a flood of more intensely personal forms of piety. In the usual Gothic and Renaissance formulas the [[Mary, the mother of Jesus|Virgin Mary]] sits with the [[Child Jesus|Infant Jesus]] on her lap, or enfolded in her arms. In earlier representations the Virgin is enthroned, and the Child may be fully aware, raising his hand to offer blessing. In a 15th-century Italian variation, a baby [[John the Baptist]] looks on. The socalled ''[[Madonna della seggiola]]'' shows both of them: the Virgin embraces the infant Jesus, near John the Baptist.

Late Gothic sculptures of the Virgin and Child may show a standing virgin with the child in her arms. [[Iconography]] varies between public images and private images supplied on a smaller scale and meant for personal devotion in the chamber: the Virgin [[Breastfeeding|suckling]] the Child (such as the ''[[Madonna Litta]]'') is an image largely confined to private devotional icons.

===Early images===
[[File:Mary & Child Icon Sinai 6th century.jpg|thumb|[[Icon]] of the enthroned ''Virgin and Child'' with saints and angels, and the [[Hand of God (art)|Hand of God]] above, 6th century, [[Saint Catherine's Monastery]], perhaps the earliest iconic image of the subject to survive]]

There was a great expansion of the [[cult (religion)|cult of Mary]] after the [[First Council of Ephesus|Council of Ephesus]] in 431, when her status as [[Theotokos]] ("God-bearer") was confirmed; this had been a subject of some controversy until then, though mainly for reasons to do with [[Christology|arguments over the nature of Christ]].  In [[mosaic]]s in [[Santa Maria Maggiore]] in Rome, dating from 432 to 440, just after the council, she is not yet shown with a [[Halo (religious iconography)|halo]], and she is also not shown in Nativity scenes at this date, though she is included in the [[Adoration of the Magi]].

By the next century the iconic depiction of the Virgin enthroned carrying the infant Christ was established, as in the example from the only group of icons surviving from this period, at [[Saint Catherine's Monastery]] in [[Egypt]]. This type of depiction, with subtly changing differences of emphasis, has remained the mainstay of depictions of Mary to the present day. The image at Mount Sinai succeeds in combining two aspects of Mary described in the [[Magnificat]], her [[humility]] and her [[wikt:exaltation|exaltation]] above other humans, and has the [[Hand of God (art)|Hand of God]] above, up to which the archangels look. An early icon of the Virgin as queen is in the church of [[Santa Maria in Trastevere]] in Rome, datable to 705–707 by the kneeling figure of [[Pope John VII]], a notable promoter of the cult of the Virgin, to whom the infant Christ reaches his hand.  This type was long confined to Rome.  The roughly half-dozen varied icons of the Virgin and Child in Rome from the 6th–8th century form the majority of the representations surviving from this period; "isolated images of the Madonna and Child ... are so common ... to the present day in Catholic and Orthodox tradition, that it is difficult to recover a sense of the novelty of such images in the early Middle Ages, at least in western Europe".<ref>Nees, Lawrence. ''Early medieval art'', 143–145, quote 144, Oxford University Press, 2002, {{ISBN|0-19-284243-9}}, {{ISBN|978-0-19-284243-5}}</ref>

At this period the [[iconography]] of the Nativity was taking [[Nativity of Jesus in art#Byzantine image|the form, centred on Mary]], that it has retained up to the present day in [[Eastern Orthodoxy]], and on which Western depictions remained based until the [[High Middle Ages]].  Other narrative scenes for Byzantine cycles on the ''[[Life of the Virgin]]'' were being evolved, relying on [[New Testament apocrypha|apocypha]]l sources to fill in her life before the [[Annunciation to Mary]].  By this time the political and economic collapse of the [[Western Roman Empire]] meant that the Western, Latin, church was unable to compete in the development of such sophisticated [[iconography]], and relied heavily on Byzantine developments.

The earliest surviving image in a Western [[illuminated manuscript]] of the [[Madonna and Child]] comes from the [[Book of Kells]] of about 800 <ref>{{Cite journal|last=Werner|first=Martin|date=1972|title=The Madonna and Child Miniature in the Book of Kells: Part I|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3048928|journal=The Art Bulletin|volume=54|issue=1|pages=1–23|doi=10.2307/3048928|jstor=3048928|url-access=subscription}}</ref> (there is a similar carved image on the lid of [[St Cuthbert's coffin]] of 698) and, though magnificently decorated in the style of [[Insular art]], the drawing of the figures can only be described as rather crude compared to Byzantine work of the period.  This was in fact an unusual inclusion in a [[Gospel book]], and images of the Virgin were slow to appear in large numbers in manuscript art until the [[book of hours]] was devised in the 13th century.

The ''[[Madonna of humility]]'' by [[:File:Madonna-of-humility- 1433 Domenico di Bartolo.jpg|Domenico di Bartolo]], 1433, is considered one of the most innovative devotional images from the early [[Renaissance art|Renaissance]].<ref name="Trinchieri">''Art and music in the early modern period'' by Franca Trinchieri Camiz, Katherine A. McIver {{ISBN|0-7546-0689-9}} p. 15 [https://books.google.com/books?id=mdIFQTuA4cQC&pg=PA15]</ref>

===Byzantine influence on the West===
[[File:Italo-Byzantinischer Maler des 13. Jahrhunderts 001.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|13th-century ''Madonna with Child'' in the [[Italo-Byzantine]] style]]

Very few early images of the Virgin Mary survive, though the depiction of the Madonna has roots in ancient pictorial and sculptural traditions that informed the earliest Christian communities throughout Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East.  Important to Italian tradition are [[Byzantine art|Byzantine]] [[icons]], especially those created in [[Constantinople]] (Istanbul), the capital of the longest, enduring [[medieval]] civilization whose icons participated in civic life and were celebrated for their miraculous properties.  Byzantium (324–1453) saw itself as the true [[Ancient Rome|Rome]], if [[Greek language|Greek]]-speaking, Christian empire with colonies of Italians living among its citizens, participating in [[Crusades]] at the borders of its land, and ultimately, plundering its churches, palaces and monasteries of many of its treasures.  Later in the [[Middle Ages]], the [[Cretan school]] was the main source of icons for the West, and the artists there could adapt their style to Western [[iconography]] when required.

While theft is one way that Byzantine images made their way West to Italy, the relationship between Byzantine icons and Italian images of the Madonna is far more rich and complicated.  Byzantine art played a long, critical role in Western Europe, especially when Byzantine territories included parts of Eastern Europe, Greece and much of Italy itself.  Byzantine manuscripts, ivories, gold, silver and [[Byzantine silk|luxurious textiles]] were distributed throughout the West.  In Byzantium, Mary's usual title was the [[Theotokos]] or Mother of God, rather than the Virgin Mary and it was believed that [[salvation]] was delivered to the faithful at the moment of God's [[incarnation]]. That [[theological]] concept takes pictorial form in the image of Mary holding her infant son.

However, what is most relevant to the Byzantine heritage of the Madonna is twofold.  First, the earliest surviving independent images of the Virgin Mary are found in Rome, the center of Christianity in the medieval West.  One is a valued possession of [[Santa Maria in Trastevere]], one of the many Roman churches dedicated to the Virgin Mary.  Another, a splintered, repainted ghost of its former self, is venerated at the [[Pantheon, Rome|Pantheon]], that great architectural wonder of the Ancient [[Roman Empire]], that was rededicated to Mary as an expression of the Church's triumph.  Both evoke Byzantine tradition in terms of their medium, that is, the technique and materials of the paintings, in that they were originally painted in [[tempera]] (egg yolk and ground pigments) on wooden panels.  In this respect, they share the Ancient Roman heritage of Byzantine icons.  Second, they share [[iconography]], or subject matter.  Each image stresses the maternal role that Mary plays, representing her in relationship to her infant son.  It is difficult to gauge the dates of the cluster of these earlier images, however, they seem to be primarily works of the 7th and 8th centuries.

===Later medieval period===
It was not until the revival of monumental [[panel painting]] in Italy during the 12th and 13th centuries, that the image of the Madonna gains prominence outside of Rome, especially throughout [[Tuscany]]. While members of the [[mendicant orders]] of the [[Franciscan]] and [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] Orders are some of the first to commission panels representing this subject matter, such works quickly became popular in monasteries, parish churches, and homes. Some images of the Madonna were paid for by lay organizations called confraternities, who met to sing praises of the Virgin in chapels found within the newly reconstructed, spacious churches that were sometimes dedicated to her. Paying for such a work might also be seen as a form of devotion. Its expense registers in the use of thin sheets of real [[gold leaf]] in all parts of the panel that are not covered with paint, a visual analogue not only to the costly sheaths that medieval [[goldsmith]]s used to decorate altars, but also a means of surrounding the image of the Madonna with illumination from oil lamps and candles. Even more precious is the bright blue mantle colored with [[lapis lazuli]], a stone imported from Afghanistan.

This is the case of one of the most famous, innovative and monumental works that Duccio executed for the Laudesi at Santa Maria Novella in Florence. Often the scale of the work indicates a great deal about its original function. Often referred to as the ''[[Rucellai Madonna]]'' (c. 1285), the panel painting towers over the spectator, offering a visual focus for members of the Laudesi confraternity to gather before it as they sang praises to the image. Duccio made an even grander image of the Madonna enthroned for the high altar of the cathedral of Siena, his home town. Known as the ''Maesta'' (1308–1311), the image represents the pair as the center of a densely populated court in the central part of a complexly carpentered work that lifts the court upon a predella (pedestal of altarpiece) of narrative scenes and standing figures of prophets and saints. In turn, a modestly scaled image of the Madonna as a half-length figure holding her son in a memorably intimate depiction, is to be found in the National Gallery of London. This is clearly made for the private devotion of a Christian wealthy enough to hire one of the most important Italian artists of his day.

The privileged owner need not go to Church to say his prayers or plead for salvation; all he or she had to do was open the shutters of the tabernacle in an act of private revelation. Duccio and his contemporaries inherited early pictorial conventions that were maintained, in part, to tie their own works to the authority of tradition.

Despite all of the innovations of painters of the Madonna during the 13th and 14th centuries, Mary can usually be recognized by virtue of her attire. Customarily when she is represented as a youthful mother of her newborn child, she wears a deeply saturated blue mantle over a red garment. This mantle typically covers her head, where sometimes, one might see a linen, or later, transparent silk veil. She holds the Christ Child, or Baby Jesus, who shares her halo as well as her regal bearing. Often her gaze is directed out at the viewer, serving as an intercessor, or [[Conduit (spiritualism)|conduit]] for prayers that flow from the Christian, to her, and only then, to her son. However, late medieval Italian artists also followed the trends of Byzantine icon painting, developing their own methods of depicting the Madonna. Sometimes, the Madonna's complex bond with her tiny child takes the form of a close, intimate moment of tenderness steeped in sorrow where she only has eyes for him.

While the focus of this entry currently stresses the depiction of the Madonna in panel painting, her image also appears in mural decoration, whether mosaics or fresco painting on the exteriors and interior of sacred buildings. She is found high above the apse, or east end of the church where the liturgy is celebrated in the West. She is also found in sculpted form, whether small ivories for private devotion, or large sculptural reliefs and free-standing sculpture. As a participant in sacred drama, her image inspires one of the most important fresco cycles in all of Italian painting: Giotto's narrative cycle in the Arena Chapel, next to the Scrovegni family's palace in Padua. This program dates to the first decade of the 14th century.

Italian artists of the 15th century onward are indebted to traditions established in the 13th and 14th centuries in their representation of the Madonna.

<gallery widths="200" heights="200">
File:Gerard David - The rest on the flight into Egypt (National Gallery of Art).jpg|alt=Rest on The Flight into Egypt, c. 1510, by Gerard David depicts a close, intimate moment of tenderness where she only has eyes for the Child.|''[[Rest on the Flight into Egypt (David, National Gallery of Art)|Rest on The Flight into Egypt]]'', c. 1510,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/Collection/art-object-page.50.html |title=National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. |access-date=2014-07-08 |archive-date=2014-07-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726155953/http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/Collection/art-object-page.50.html |url-status=live }}</ref> by [[Gerard David]], depicts a close, intimate moment of tenderness where she only has eyes for the Child.
File:Don Lorenzo Monaco 013.jpg|[[Lorenzo Monaco]], [[Florence]], c. 1410
</gallery>

===Renaissance===
While the 15th and 16th centuries were a time when Italian painters expanded their repertoire to include historical events, independent portraits and mythological subject matter, Christianity retained a strong hold on their careers. Most works of art from this era are sacred. While the range of religious subject matter included subjects from the Old Testament and images of saints whose cults date after the codification of the Bible, the Madonna remained a dominant subject in the iconography of the Renaissance.

Some of the most eminent 16th-century Italian painters to turn to this subject were [[Leonardo da Vinci]], [[Michelangelo]], [[Raphael]],{{NoteTag|According to [[W.&nbsp;H. Wackenroder]], some writings by [[Bramante]] reveal that Raphael told him that he discovered how to paint his Madonnas in a visionary dream he had after praying to the Virgin.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Salmi |first1=Mario |author1-link=Mario Salmi |last2=Becherucci |first2=Luisa |last3=Marabottini |first3=Alessandro |last4=Tempesti |first4=Anna Forlani |last5=Marchini |first5=Giuseppe |last6=Becatti |author6-link=Giovanni Becatti |first6=Giovanni |last7=Castagnoli |first7=Ferdinando |author7-link=Ferdinando Castagnoli |last8=Golzio |first8=Vincenzo |title=The Complete Work of Raphael |year = 1969 |publisher=Reynal and Co., [[William Morrow and Company]] |location = New York|page = 622 }}</ref>}} [[Giorgione]], [[Giovanni Bellini]] and [[Titian]]. They developed on the foundations of 15th-century Marian images by [[Fra Angelico]], [[Fra Filippo Lippi]], [[Andrea Mantegna|Mantegna]] and [[Piero della Francesca]] in particular, among countless others. The subject was equally popular in [[Early Netherlandish painting]] and that of the rest of Northern Europe.

The subject retaining the greatest power on all of these men remained the maternal bond, even though other subjects, especially the [[Annunciation]], and later the [[Immaculate Conception]], led to a greater number of paintings that represented Mary alone, without her son. As a commemorative image, the ''[[Pietà]]'' became an important subject, newly freed from its former role in narrative cycles, in part, an outgrowth of popular devotional statues in Northern Europe. Traditionally, Mary is depicted expressing compassion, grief and love, usually in highly charged, emotional works of art even though the most famous, early work by Michelangelo stifles signs of mourning. The tenderness an ordinary mother might feel towards her beloved child is captured, evoking the moment when she first held her infant son [[Christ]]. The spectator, after all, is meant to sympathize, to share in the despair of the mother who holds the body of her crucified son.

<gallery widths="200" heights="220">
File:15th-century unknown painters - Madonna on a Crescent Moon in Hortus Conclusus - WGA23736.jpg|The ''Madonna [[Woman of the Apocalypse|on a Crescent Moon]] in [[Hortus Conclusus]]'' by an [[anonymity|anonymous]] painter
File:Leonardo da Vinci - study of a woman's head.jpg|[[Leonardo da Vinci]], a study of the Head of [[Mary, the mother of Jesus|Madonna]], c. 1484
</gallery>

===Modern images===
[[File:La Vierge au lys.jpg|thumb|180px|''[[La Vierge au lys|Virgin of the Lilies]]'', [[Bouguereau]], 1899]]

In some European countries, such as Germany, Italy and Poland sculptures of the Madonna are found on the outside of city houses and buildings, or along the roads in small enclosures.

In Germany, such a statue placed on the outside of a building is called a ''Hausmadonna''. Some date back to the Middle Ages, while some are still being made today. Usually found on the level of the second floor or higher, and often on the corner of a house, such sculptures were found in great numbers in many cities; [[Mainz]], for instance, was supposed to have had more than 200 of them [[Bombing of Mainz in World War II|before World War II]].<ref>{{Cite book
  | last1 = Wöhrlin
  | first1 = Annette
  |author2=Luzie Bratner |author3=Marlene Höbel |author4=Hiltraud Laubach |author5=Anne-Madeleine Plum
  | title = Mainzer Hausmadonnen
  | publisher = Leinpfad
  | year = 2008
  | location = Ingelheim
  | isbn = 978-3-937782-70-6 }}</ref> The variety in such statues is as great as in other Madonna images; one finds Madonnas holding grapes (in reference to the ''[[Song of Songs]]'' 1:14, translated as "My lover is to me a cluster of henna blossoms" in the [[New International Version|NIV]]), "immaculate" Madonnas in pure, perfect white without child or accessories, and Madonnas with roses symbolizing her life determined by the mysteries of faith.<ref>Anne-Madeleine Plum, "Kreuzzepter-Madonna--Zypertraube ind fruchtbringende Rede" and "Maria, Geheimnisvolle Rose", in Wöhrlin, ''Mainzer Hausmadonnen'', pp. 49–54, 55–57.</ref>

In Italy, the ''roadside Madonna'' is a common sight both on the side of buildings and along roads in small enclosures. These are expected to bring spiritual relief to people who pass them.<ref>Thomas Singer, 2004 ''The cultural complex'' {{ISBN|1-58391-913-9}} p. 68</ref> Some Madonnas statues are placed around Italian towns and villages as a matter of protection, or as a commemoration of a reported miracle.<ref>Mark Pearson, 2006 ''Italy from a Backpack'' {{ISBN|0-9743552-4-0}} p. 219</ref>

In the 1920s, the [[Daughters of the American Revolution]] placed statues called the ''[[Madonna of the Trail]]'' from coast to coast, marking the path of the [[old National Road]] and the [[Santa Fe Trail]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM6K5T_Madonna_of_the_Trail_Lamar_Colorado |title=''Madonna of the Trail'' |access-date=2009-12-09 |archive-date=2011-06-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606234028/http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM6K5T_Madonna_of_the_Trail_Lamar_Colorado |url-status=live }}</ref>

Throughout his life, the painter [[Ray Abeyta|Ray Martìn Abeyta]] created works inspired by the Cusco School style of Madonna painting, creating a hybrid of traditional and contemporary Latino subject matter representing the colonialist encounters between Europeans and Mesoamericans.<ref name="NYT">{{cite news |last = Williams |first = Stephen P. |title=The Art Is Striking, and So Are the Cars |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/05/realestate/05habi.html |access-date=9 April 2019 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=August 5, 2007 }}</ref><ref name="ABQ Journ Mary">{{cite news |last = Roberts |first=Kathaleen |title=NM History Museum unveils rare colonial paintings of Mary |url = https://www.abqjournal.com/422369/nm-history-museum-unveils-rare-colonial-paintings-of-mary.html |access-date=9 April 2019 |newspaper=Albuquerque Journal |date=June 29, 2014}}</ref>

In 2015 iconographer Mark Dukes created the icon [[Our Lady of Ferguson]], depicting the Madonna and child, in relation to the [[Shooting of Michael Brown]] in [[Ferguson, Missouri]].<ref>[http://nebraskaepiscopalian.org/?cat=32&paged=2 Prayer and Devotion] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930231418/http://nebraskaepiscopalian.org/?cat=32&paged=2 |date=2020-09-30}}</ref>

==Islamic view==
[[File:Virgin Mary and Jesus (old Persian miniature).jpg|left|thumb|180px|[[Mary in Islam|Mary]] and [[Jesus in Islam|Jesus]] in a [[Persian miniature]]]]

The first important encounter between [[Islam]] and the image of the [[Mary in Islam|Madonna]] is said to have happened during the [[Prophet Muhammad]]'s [[conquest of Mecca]]. At the culmination of his mission, in 629 CE, Muhammad [[Conquest of Mecca|conquered Mecca]] with a Muslim army, with his first action being the "cleansing" or "purifying" of the [[Kaaba]], wherein he removed all [[pre-Islamic Arabian gods|the pre-Islamic pagan images and idols]] from inside the temple. According to reports collected by [[Ibn Ishaq]] and [[al-Azraqi]], Muhammad did, however, protectively put his hand over a painting of Mary and [[Jesus in Islam|Jesus]], and a fresco of [[Abraham in Islam|Abraham]] in order to keep them from being effaced.<ref>{{cite book |title = The Life of Muhammad. A translation of Ishaq's "Sirat Rasul Allah". |publisher=Oxford University Press |last=Guillaume | first=Alfred |author-link=Alfred Guillaume | year=1955 | page=552 |isbn=978-0196360331 | quote = Quraysh had put pictures in the Ka'ba including two of Jesus son of Mary and Mary (on both of whom be peace!). ... The apostle ordered that the pictures should be erased except those of Jesus and Mary. | url= https://archive.org/details/IbnIshaq-SiratRasulAllah-translatorA.Guillaume |access-date=2011-12-08 }}</ref><ref name="EllenbogenTugendhaft2011">{{cite book |last1=Ellenbogen|first1=Josh|last2=Tugendhaft|first2=Aaron |title=Idol Anxiety|year=2011 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0804781817 |page=47 |quote=When Muhammad ordered his men to cleanse the Kaaba of the statues and pictures displayed there, he spared the paintings of the Virgin and Child and of Abraham.}}</ref> In the words of the historian [[Barnaby Rogerson]], "Muhammad raised his hand to protect an icon of the Virgin and Child and a painting of Abraham, but otherwise his companions cleared the interior of its clutter of votive treasures, cult implements, statuettes and hanging charms."<ref name="Rogerson2003">{{cite book |last = Rogerson |first = Barnaby |author-link = Barnaby Rogerson |title = The Prophet Muhammad: A Biography |year = 2003 |publisher = Paulist Press |isbn = 978-1587680298 |page = 190 }}</ref>

The [[Islamic scholar]] [[Martin Lings]] narrated the event thus in his [[Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources|biography of the Prophet]]: "Christians sometimes came to do honour to the Sanctuary of Abraham, and they were made welcome like all the rest. Moreover one Christian had been allowed and even encouraged to paint an icon of the Virgin Mary and the child Christ on an inside wall of the Ka'bah, where it sharply contrasted with all the other paintings. But [[Quraysh]] were more or less insensitive to this contrast: for them it was simply a question of increasing the multitude of idols by another two; and it was partly their tolerance that made them so impenetrable.... Apart from the icon of the Virgin Mary and the child Jesus, and a painting of an old man, said to be [[Abraham]], the walls inside had been covered with pictures of [[pagan]] [[deities]]. Placing his hand protectively over the icon, the Prophet told [[Uthman]] to see that all the other paintings, except that of Abraham, were effaced."<ref>Martin Lings, ''Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Source'' (Rochester: Inner Traditions, 1987), pp. 17, 300.</ref>

== Parallels in Indian art ==
[[File:Carved Ivory Objects from Goa.jpg|thumb|Carved Ivory Objects from Goa, 18th/19th Century. [[National Museum, New Delhi]]]]
In [[Indian art]] there are striking similarities found in between the images of Madonna and Christ Child, and [[Yashoda]] or [[Devaki]] and [[Krishna]], as both the [[Hindus|Hindu]] and the [[Christians|Christian]] figures of the "eternal child"<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rabindranath Tagore - Verses - Fireflies - 26 (the child ever dwells) |url=https://www.tagoreweb.in/Verses/fireflies-200/the-child-ever-dwells-7654 |access-date=2023-04-06 |website=www.tagoreweb.in}}</ref> are shown cuddled warmly on the laps of their mother.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=enrouteI |date=2022-12-23 |title=On the Mother's Lap |url=https://enrouteindianhistory.com/on-the-mothers-lap/ |access-date=2023-04-06 |website=Enroute Indian History |language=en-US}}</ref>

There also exists a temple in [[Goa]], the Shree Devakikrishna Temple at Marcel, where seeing the idol of Krishna-Devaki, the [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]] had not decimated the temple, for it had reminded them of Virgin Mary-Jesus.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=2017-10-29 |title=When Devaki met her son |work=The Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/when-devaki-met-her-son/articleshow/61317788.cms |access-date=2023-04-06 |issn=0971-8257}}</ref>

"An impressive idol of Devaki, carrying the infant lord on her waist, stands at the inner sanctum of the temple. The image is unusual because while there exists a plethora of temples in the country dedicated to Krishna, there is no image of Devaki".<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> Historian Anant Dhume, in his book 'The Cultural History of Goa from 10,000 BC to 1352 AD', compares the idol with the image of Madonna and the Christ child because of the similarities.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Dhume |first=Anant Ramkrishna Sinai |title=The cultural history of Goa from 10000 B.C.-1352 A.D. |date=2009 |publisher=Broadway Book Centre |others=Nandkumar Kamat, Ramesh Anant S. Dhume |isbn=978-81-905716-7-8 |edition=2nd |location=Panjim |oclc=693684216}}</ref>

In the book, Dhume elaborates: "However, the idol of Devkikrishna originally of Chodan Island, Tiswadi taluka transferred at the time of molestation by the Christian missionaries to Mashela (Marcela in Portuguese) hamlet of Orgaon village, Ponda taluka, is interesting ... History says that Vasco da Gama in his old age was appointed Vice-Roy of all colonies of the Far East as a gesture of honour. One day, he visited Chodan Island. When he saw this idol through the main doorway, he immediately saluted the image and went on his knees, considering it the image of Mother Mary, with baby Jesus ..."<ref name=":2" />

During the Portuguese reign in Goa starting from the 16th Century, the Indo-Portuguese [[Ivory carving|ivory statuettes]] made, reflected such similarities.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Christian art in India: Indo-Portuguese ivory statuettes (article) |url=https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-asia/south-asia/x97ec695a:1500-1850-deccan-south/a/christian-art-in-india-indo-portuguese-ivory-statuettes |access-date=2023-04-06 |website=Khan Academy |language=en}}</ref> "The Portuguese had settled with the aim to dominate the spice trade and spread their Christian faith, and these small, portable ivory statues would embellish the church altars and Goan homes, and were also transported abroad serving to fulfil their later project. These figurines were carved by the Indian artists under the guidance of the Jesuits".<ref name=":0" /> Art historian Gauvin Alexander Bailey notes that the [[Jesuits|Jesuit]] art commissions "were . . . a partnership in which the artists' own interpretations of sacred art were encouraged and fostered."<ref name=":3" /> The Jesuits sourced small paintings, prints and sculptures from Europe for the Indian sculptors to use as reference, and the indigenous artists used their own traditions for fashioning such figures. One of the most brilliant example of this syncretic form is the figure called the Good Shepherd Rockery (also known as the Good Shepherd Mount or Bom Pastor) which "displays the coming together of cultures in both its iconography and its features, encapsulating how Goan sculptors created images of the divine that are Catholic, European, and South Asian".<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" /> The child form of Christ in this figure, with round face and smooth skin were perhaps drawn from sculptures of baby Krishna.<ref>{{Cite book |chapter=Mary on the moon: ivory statuettes of the Virgin Mary |chapter-url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315456058-15/mary-moon-ivory-statuettes-virgin-mary-goa-sri-lanka-goa-sri-lanka-marsha-olson |language=en |doi=10.4324/9781315456058 |author=Goa and Sri Lanka MARSHA G. OLSON|editor-first1=Deborah S. |editor-first2=Rebecca M. |editor-last1=Hutton |editor-last2=Brown |title=Rethinking Place in South Asian and Islamic Art, 1500-Present |year=2016 |isbn=9781315456058 }}</ref><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":0" />

{{multiple image
| direction         = horizontal
| align             = right
| width             = 150
| footer            = Icons of Navanita-Krishna or Krishna, The Butter Thief, circulating in 16th century South India, like the copper alloy made statue from [[Tamil Nadu]] (left) and the ivory statue from [[Mysore (region)|southern Karnataka]](right), both currently at [[LACMA]], were utilised by Christian artists in [[Portuguese India|Portuguese-ruled Goa]] to produce the icons of the infant Christ.  
| image1            = Krishna, The Butter Thief LACMA M.72.1.16.jpg
| image2            = Krishna, the Butter Thief LACMA M.84.34 (1 of 2).jpg
}}

Whereas, in Bengal, the Chore Bagan Art Studio, the Kansaripara Art Studio and the Calcutta Art Studio, produced homegrown prints around the second half of the nineteenth century. These artists, were influenced by the various depictions of Christ in the European prints which had infiltrated the market of the time. And perhaps the closest connection they could draw was between the child Christ and Krishna.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |date=2019-12-23 |title=The Indian Pieta |url=https://lifestyle.livemint.com/news/talking-point/the-indian-pieta-111641648702047.html |access-date=2023-04-06 |website=Mintlounge |language=en}}</ref> [[Jyotindra Jain]] comments: "... the Chore Bagan Art Studio published a popular picture, titled Birth Of Krishna, which was almost entirely based on popular prints of The Birth Of Jesus Christ, to the extent that the presence of three wise men of the East was also literally imitated in this work."<ref name=":4" />

Artists such as [[Jamini Roy]] also adopted this image, and Jesus and Mary would feature in the canvases of [[Tyeb Mehta]], [[Krishen Khanna|Krishnen Khanna]], [[Madhvi Parekh]] and others in ways that provide a commentary on, and glimpse of the Indian social scene.<ref name=":4" /> Churches in India, such as Tamil Nadu's Sanctuary of Our Lady of Vailankanni which was deemed a [[basilica]] by the [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic Church]] in 1962, similarly housed idols of Mary clad in a traditional [[Sari|saree]].<ref name=":4" /> "These remain examples of how in art and in faith traditions merge, so do symbols and images, giving birth to syncretic cultures that testify the ravages of communal hate, man-made differences and orthodox interpretations".<ref name=":0" /> [[Nirendranath Chakravarty|Nirendranath Chakraborty]], one of the finest modern poets of Bengal wrote, taking forward this imagery of the mother and the child, wrote a famous poem entitled ''"Kolkatar Jishu"'' (The Jesus of Calcutta).<ref>{{Cite web |title=বাংলার কবিতা - কলকাতার যীশুনীরেন্দ্রনাথ চক্রবর্তী |url=https://banglarkobita.com/poem/famous/1587 |access-date=2023-04-06 |website=banglarkobita.com}}</ref>

The everlasting tenderness of the mother-child figure, of motherhood and the unconditional bond of love and warmth that this relationship holds, "that the Christ child on Madonna's lap signifies and is reverberated in the image of Krishna-Yashoda or Devaki, is perhaps what marks the culture of love",<ref name=":0" /> and justifies the various interpretations of this symbol in art and poetry found across the subcontinent.

==Notable types and individual works==
[[File:Czestochowska.jpg|thumb|right|180px|[[Black Madonna of Częstochowa]], Poland]]

There are a large number of articles on individual works of various sorts in [[:Category:Virgin Mary in art]] and its sub-category. See also the incomplete [[List of depictions of the Virgin and Child]]. The term "Madonna" is often applied to representations of Mary that were not created by Italians. A small selection of examples include:
*''[[Golden Madonna of Essen]]'', the earliest large-scale sculptural example in Western Europe and a precedent for the polychrome wooden processional sculptures of Romanesque France, a type known as Throne of Wisdom
*''[[Madonna of humility]]'', depicting a Madonna sitting on the ground, or low cushions
*''[[Madonna and Child (Duccio)|Madonna and Child]]'', a painting by Duccio di Buoninsegna, from around the year 1300
*''[[The Black Madonna of Częstochowa]]'' (''Czarna Madonna'' or ''Matka Boska Częstochowska'' in Polish) icon, which was, according to legend, painted by St. Luke the Evangelist on a cypress table top from the house of the Holy Family
*''[[Benois Madonna|Madonna and Child with Flowers]]'', possibly one of two works begun by [[Leonardo da Vinci]]
*''[[Madonna Eleusa]]'' (of tenderness) has been depicted both in the Eastern and Western churches.
*''[[Madonna of the Steps]]'', a relief by Michelangelo
*''[[Madonna della seggiola]]'', by [[Raphael]]
*''[[Madonna with the Long Neck]]'', by [[Parmigianino]]
*''[[The Madonna of Port Lligat]]'', the name of two paintings by Salvador [[Dalí]] created in 1949 and 1950

===Paintings===
<gallery widths="170" heights="170" caption="Madonna in Art">
File:Como - San Fedele - Madonna in Mandorla.jpg|''Madonna in Mandorla'', Wolfgang Sauber, 12th century
File:Duccio The-Madonna-and-Child-with-Angels-1.jpg|''Madonna and Angels'', [[Duccio]], 1282
File:Our Mother of Perpetual Help.jpg|[[Our Mother of Perpetual Help]], probably an early Cretan work, 13th or 14th century. A very popular Catholic image, which was certainly in Rome by 1499.
File:Mary & Child Icon Sinai 13th century.jpg|Mary and the child depicted as a hodegetria. Tesselated icon in monumental style, early 13th century. [[Saint Catherine's Monastery]] in the Sinai, Egypt.
File:Stefan Lochner 007.jpg|''Madonna in the rose-garden'' by Stefan Lochner, 1448
File:Jan van Eyck 070.jpg|''[[Madonna of Chancellor Rolin]]'', [[Jan van Eyck]], [[Burgundy (region)|Burgundy]], c. 1435
File:Madona del gran duque, por Rafael.jpg|''[[Madonna del Granduca]]'', [[Raphael]], 1505
File:Raphael - The Madonna of the Pinks.jpg|''[[Madonna of the Pinks]]'', [[Raphael]], probably before 1507
File:Quentin Massys-Virgin and Child Surrounded by Angels-Musée des Beaux-Arts,Lyons..jpg|''[[Madonna and Child with Angels (Matsys)|Madonna and Child Surrounded by Angels]]'' by [[Quentin Matsys]], c. 1509
File:Gnadenbild Mariahilf, Innsbruck.jpg|''Maria Hilf'' by [[Lucas Cranach the Elder]], c. 1530
File:Baldung Vierge treille mba mb.jpg|''[[Madonna in the Vine Arbour]]'' by [[Hans Baldung]], c. 1541 ([[Musée de l'Œuvre Notre-Dame|Musée de l'Œuvre Notre-Dame, Strasbourg]])
File:Greco Virgin Mary.jpg|[[Virgin Mary (El Greco, Strasbourg)|Virgin Mary]] by [[El Greco]], c. 1600 ([[Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg]])
File:Sassoferrato - Jungfrun i bön.jpg|''[[The Virgin in Prayer]]'' by [[Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato|Sassoferrato]], 1640–1650. [[National Gallery]], London.
File:Torelli Virgin c.jpg|''Virgin and Child with Angels and Saints'', [[Felice Torelli]], 17th century
File:Ethiopia-Axum Cathedral-fresco-Black Madonna.JPG|A fresco of a black Madonna and Jesus at the [[Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion]] in [[Axum, Ethiopia]]
</gallery>

===Statues===
<gallery>
File:Coptic - Virgin and Child - Walters 71297.jpg|Egyptian ivory carving, one of the earliest examples of what in later Byzantine times was called Eleousa, or "Virgin of Tenderness". 7th century.
File:Essen muenster goldene madonna-4.jpg|[[Golden Madonna of Essen]], {{circa|980}}
File:Presbyter Martinus Madonna als Sedes Sapientiae.jpg|Presbyter Martinus: ''Madonna as [[Seat of Wisdom]]'', Italy, 1199
File:Augustins - Vierge à l'Enfant dite Notre-Dame de Grasse RA 788.jpg|''[[Nostre Dame de Grasse]]'', [[Toulouse]], {{circa|1480}}
File:Barcelona Cathedral Interior - Chapel of Our Lady of Montserrat.jpg|''[[Black Madonna]]'', [[Barcelona]]
File:Pantheon-raphaels-tomb.jpg|Madonna on the tomb of [[Raphael]], [[Pantheon, Rome|Pantheon]], [[Rome]]
File:SemanaSantaSevillaElBuenFin2.jpeg|Madonna from [[Holy Week]] procession in [[Seville]]
File:TsDKh Moscow Statue2.jpg|Statue outside Moscow's [[Tretyakov Gallery|New Tretyakov Gallery]]
File:Madonna, statue, Ottawa.jpg|Statue [[Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica]], [[Ottawa]], Ontario, Canada
File:Shrine to the Virgin Mary.JPG|A roadside Madonna in [[Ocieka]], Poland
File:Amaro Mondsichelmadonna 13102007 51.jpg|A roadside Madonna alcove in [[Friuli]], Italy
File:La Conquistadora.jpg|[[La Conquistadora]], [[Santa Fe, New Mexico]], pre-1625
File:Shrine to Our Lady of Walsingham, Church of the Good Shepherd (Rosemont, Pennsylvania).jpg|[[Our Lady of Walsingham]] shrine at [[Church of the Good Shepherd (Rosemont, Pennsylvania)]]
</gallery>

===Manuscripts and covers===
<gallery>
File:Codexaureus lorsch-evangiles-reliure-ivoire-marie-detail.jpg|An ivory cover of the [[Codex Aureus of Lorsch]], Germany, c. 800
File:Svanhild-Evangeliar.jpg|''Svanhild Evangeliary'', an [[Illuminated manuscript]] from [[Essen]], 1058–1085
File:Khalili Collection Islamic Art mss 0620 crop Mary.jpg|The Madonna and child in [[Musa va 'Uj]], a manuscript painting from Iran or Iraq, 1460s
</gallery>

== See also ==
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* [[Christian art]]
* [[Art in Roman Catholicism]]
* [[Mary (mother of Jesus)]]
* [[Marian art in the Catholic Church|Roman Catholic Marian art]]
* [[Pietà]]
* [[Nursing Madonna]]
* [[Life-giving Spring]]
* [[Eleusa icon]]
* [[Theotokos]]
* [[Icon of the Hodegetria]]
* [[Our Lady of Guadalupe]]
* [[La Conquistadora]]
* [[Nativity of Jesus in art]]
}}

== Notes ==
{{NoteFoot}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons|Virgin Mary}}
{{Commons category multi|Iconography of the Virgin Mary|Madonna and Child}}
* [http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/virg/hd_virg.htm Metropolitan Museum:] The Virgin Mary in the Middle Ages
{{Gutenberg |no = 17373 |name = The Madonna in Art }} by [[Estelle M. Hurll]] (First printed 1897)

{{Clear}}
{{Virgin Mary}}
{{Madonna styles}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Interwiki extra|qid=Q9309699}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Madonna (art)}}
[[Category:Virgin Mary in art| ]]
[[Category:Christian art]]
[[Category:Eastern Orthodox icons]]
[[Category:Italian words and phrases]]
[[Category:Jesus in art]]
[[Category:Christianity and children]]