Virgin and Child playing with a Goldfinch and holding a Sheaf of Millet

The Virgin Mary is shown seated with the Christ Child on her lap. She wears a gold crown and a blue robe, painted using the precious pigment lapis lazuli. The picture is full of symbols. For example, both Mary and the child have halos around their heads. Their radiance show that these are holy persons, residing in the heavenly realm. The gold background conveys the same message. The painting was originally an altarpiece in a church. There, churchgoers could pray to the Virgin Mary and ask her for help with life’s troubles. The idea was that you could reach her in Heaven via the image. Back then, the picture was regarded as part of the church’s sacred interior, not art. It only became art much later when it ended up in a museum. With her motherly care, her humility and obedience to God, Mary became a role model for women. This was how women should act in relation to God and their husbands, wrote the theologians, who were obviously all men at the time. While Mary was indeed an ideal, many women had other agendas too (50 Favorites in the SMK Collection).