Summary: Oil painting showing the Virgin Mary with her child in her arms. She is wearing a white headpiece, a rich orange cloak and has a gold halo. Decorating the dark blue background are gold thorns and wild parsley.
Description: Many painters have drawn the Virgin Mary and Jesus and it was a particularly popular theme with Italian artists from the Renaissance period. However, most portraits depict the virgin looking at her
child. In this picture, she looks up and introduces her young child to the viewer. Across the background are patterned thorny tendrils and wild parsley. These are symbols of the pain and sorrows of motherhood and
a warning of the crown of thorns that the Jesus wore as a man. This work was painted at Ragusa in Italy and the model was a young Italian girl from the town.
