TheNursing Madonna,Virgo Lactans, orMadonna Lactans, is aniconographic type of theMadonna and Child in which theVirgin Mary is shownbreastfeeding theChild Jesus. InItalian, it is called theMadonna del Latte ("Madonna of Milk"). It was common in paintings until the change in atmosphere after theCouncil of Trent, when it was rather discouraged by theCatholic Church, at least in public contexts, on grounds of propriety.[1]
The depiction is mentioned by PopeGregory the Great, and a mosaic depiction probably of the 12th century is on the façade ofSanta Maria in Trastevere in Rome, though few other examples date to before theLate Middle Ages. It survived inEastern Orthodoxicons (asGalaktotrophousa in Greek;Mlekopitatelnitsa in Russian), especially in Russia.[2]
Usage of the depiction seems to have revived with theCistercian Order in the 12th century, as part of the general upsurge inMarian theology and devotion. Milk was seen as "processed blood", and the milk of the Virgin to some extent paralleled the role of theBlood of Christ.[3][4]
In theMiddle Ages, the middle and upper classes usually contracted breastfeeding out towetnurses, and depictions of the Nursing Madonna were linked with theMadonna of Humility, as the Virgin was in more ordinary clothes than the royal robes shown, for instance, in images of theCoronation of the Virgin, and she is often seated on the ground. The first half of the 13th century produced more than one hundred surviving paintings.[5] The appearance of such paintings inTuscany in the early 14th century was something of a visual revolution, partly replacingQueen of Heaven depictions; they were also popular inIberia.
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Most Late Mediaeval paintings are smaller devotional panels containing only the two essential figures, sometimes with small angels. But the Nursing Madonna is sometimes the centre of asacra conversazione with various saints, and perhapsdonor portraits.
InDutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, especially inAntwerp, variants of the newly-popular subject of theHoly Family (a Virgin and Child withSaint Joseph) with a Nursing Madonna appeared in the early 16th century;Joos van Cleve painted many of these. These were on small devotional panels for the homes of the rich rather than churches. Several compositions were copied by different artists, probably from drawings passed around.[6] Drawing on a passage byLudolph of Saxony, the subject could also be turned into aRest on the Flight into Egypt, with the attraction of a landscape background. Saint Joseph might be shown close to the Virgin, or as a small figure foraging in the background, asGerard David's painting does.[7] Sometimes the Virgin is breastfeeding while riding on the back of the ass, as early as a 12th-century miniature inSaint Catherine's Monastery,Mount Sinai.[8]
Another composition from the same Flemish milieu, mostly found on the cheaper support oflinen rather thanpanel, appears to have been connected with devotions to theImmaculate Conception. This just shows the Virgin, looking down, and the Child.[9]
Another type of depiction, also less popular after Trent, showed Mary baring her breast in a traditional gesture of female supplication to Christ when asking for his mercy upon sinners in aDeësis orLast Judgement scene. A good example is the fresco at S. Agostino inSan Gimignano, byBenozzo Gozzoli, painted to celebrate the end of the plague.
The Nursing Madonna survived into theBaroque; examples include some depictions of theHoly Family, byEl Greco for example,[10] and narrative scenes such as theRest on the Flight into Egypt, for example byOrazio Gentileschi (versions in Birmingham and Vienna).
A variant, known as theLactation of St Bernard (Lactatio Bernardi in Latin, or simplyLactatio) is based on a miracle orapparition to SaintBernard of Clairvaux, wherein the Virgin sprinkled her milk on his lips (some versions show him awake in prayer before an image of the Madonna, while others have him asleep).[11] He usually kneels before aMadonna Lactans, and as the Child Jesus sits on Her lap, the Virgin squeezes milk from Her breast which is received by the saint. The milk was variously said to have given him wisdom, shown that the Virgin was also his spiritual mother (and to mankind in general), or cured an eye infection. In this form the Nursing Madonna survived intoBaroque art, and sometimes theRococo, as in the high altar atKloster Aldersbach.[12]
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