The National Museum of Women in the Arts has opened a “landmark exhibition” on the Virgin Mary that functions not as a religious tribute, but as an artistic exploration into the image of “the most frequently depicted woman in Western art.” Curated by Monsignor Timothy Verdon, the exhibition brings together masterworks of the Renaissance and Baroque eras, filling the museum with works by such extraordinary artists as Botticelli, Caravaggio, Durer, and Michelangelo.

Above: Gerard David, ‘The Annunciation’ (ca. 1490), oil on oak panel, 13 ¾ x 9”. Detroit Institute of Arts, City of Detroit Purchase; inv. 27.201. xxxxxx

Verdon, a Yale-trained art historian and recognized Marian scholar, is director of the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo in Florence. In a gallery talk, he explained that the exhibition focuses on “the idea of womanhood as represented by the Virgin Mary, and the power her image has exerted through time, serving both sacred and social functions during the Renaissance and Baroque periods.” His objective was to depict the cumulative and changing vision Westerners formed of Mary within the church, but also to demonstrate how her image has reflected shifting civic definitions of womanhood.

Right: Orsola Maddalena Caccia (Moncalvo, 1596–1676), ‘St. Luke the Evangelist in the Studio’ (San Luca Evangelista nello Studio), ca. 1625, oil on canvas, 109 × 74 3/8”. Parrocchia Sant’Antonio di Padova, Moncalvo, Asti.

Early images of Mary responded to feudal hierarchies and portrayed her as formal and goddess-like figure, while the Middle Ages injected her with a more relaxed sensibility. With the era’s rising middle class of merchants, Mary’s image evolved as an approachable and empathetic persona. By the Renaissance, wealthy art patrons wanted Marian images that made sense to them; the Medici wanted her fashionably dressed—someone that could fit comfortably around their stylish dinner tables.

In her catalogue essay, “Mary, the Mirror: Sacred Imagery and Secular Experience,” Melissa R. Katz takes on the central question of why a modern and secular museum would organize an exhibition on the Virgin Mary. She notes that modern visitors are often put off by religious art from earlier centuries, and gravitate instead to exhibits about art, history, and culture from more recent times. Museums today also have a broad outreach that depends on a religious neutrality that won’t offend diverse audiences.

So why fill gallery walls with images of Mary? Katz argues that “to choose only the secular or the familiar is to deny oneself access to a great deal of human culture.” Further, the works in Picturing Mary represent a “shared artistic legacy, whether or not they reflect our particular ethnicities, religious heritages, or personal beliefs.”

Left: Fra Filippo Lippi, ‘Madonna and Child (Madonna col Bambino)’ (ca. 1466-69), tempera on wood panel, 45 ¼ x 28”. Provincia di Firenze, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence.

She also contends that “Women, in particular, have a stake in parsing the possible meanings of this ubiquitous yet elusive figure in art.” For example, Renaissance and Baroque depictions of Mary emphasize her image as a tender mother and accessible figure of inspiration, rather than as a submissive paradigm of womanhood. (p. 52)

Miri Rubin focuses on Mary as “God-Bearer and Woman” in her catalogue essay, positing that “The attraction, charm, and beauty of her image—compelling as an icon but also as a life story—have enticed artists, filmmakers, designers, and advertisers to explore its many possibilities.” The universal appeal of her persona is associated with the image of motherhood, but also with definitions of local and national identity: Rubin argues that Mary should be seen as a historical phenomenon “through which people expressed and explored changing, vying, and differing aspects of the Christian experience.” (p. 27)

Right: Sandro Botticelli (Alessandro Filipepi), ‘Madonna and Child (Madonna col Bambino), also called ‘Madonna of the Book’ (Madonna del Libro), 1480-81, tempera and oil on wood panel, 22 7/8 × 15 5/8”. Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan; inv. 443.

Monsignor Verdon’s catalogue essay, “Picturing Mary: Woman, Mother, Idea,” presents the central challenge about how Mary has been portrayed over time: what sources have shaped the “mental image of this not easily imaginable woman, at once virgin and mother? What ideas did (people) associate with her?” The paintings, sculptures, precious objects, and textiles of the exhibition focus on “Mary’s appearance, her inner life, and her power as a symbol.” But another issue underscored here is “how the woman Mary was pictured by women artists”—a question particularly important given that the exhibit is being showcased at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

One woman artist that Monsignor Verdon spotlights is Orsola Maddalena Caccia (1596-1676), whose large altarpiece St. Luke the Evangelist in the Studio depicts Luke literally picturing—creating images of—Mary and her son, both on canvas and in sculpture. Verdon explains that this “picturing” was a key element for Luke: he used the portraits as visual referents when writing his New Testament texts.

Left:Elisabetta Sirani, ‘Virgin and Child’ (1663), oil on canvas, 34 x 27 1/2”. National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C., Gift of Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay; Conservation funds generously provided by the Southern California State Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Monsignor Verdon unfolds his fascination with the changing Marian image in six exhibition categories: “Madonna and Child,” “Woman and Mother,” “Mother of the Crucified,” “Mary as Idea,” “A Singular Life,” and “Mary in the Life of Believers.” He has managed the delicate balance of theology and secular ideas with a superb scholarly hand, and has illustrated his story-telling with such remarkable artworks as Fra Filippo Lippi’s Madonna and Child (1466-69), Sandro Botticelli’s Madonna and Child (1480-81), and Elisabetta Sirani’s Virgin and Child (1663).

By Amy Henderson, Contributing Writer

The exhibition will be at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington until April 12, 2015. There is an accompanying catalogue, Picturing Mary: Woman, Mother, Idea, published by Scala Press.

Visit the interactive map to learn more about the paintings and their cities of origin at: http://maphook.com/nmwa/mary.html?img=Rhenish-unknown_Madonna-and-Child_Bargello.png

Amy Henderson is a Washington-based cultural critic. She is Historian Emerita at the National Portrait Gallery.