MADONNA (It., my lady). A word special ly applied to the Virgin Mary which has become common in other languages. particularly to de scribe the Virgin in works of art. Early Chris tian art only very occasionally portrayed the Virgin. If alone, she stood with arms extended in prayer, as emblematic of the Church or the Saved Soul: this figure of the Orans (praying figure) is sometimes inscribed Virgo "Maria, but not in he earliest examples. The Virgin en throned and holding the child did not become popular until after the Council of Ephesus in 431 had declared her the Mother of God. Byzan tine art of the sixth and following centuries created the type of Youthful Virgin that was to be retained in art up to the Renaissance. The apocryphal lives of the Virgin and of the Child Christ, so popular in literature, furnished themes for art, among the earliest being the scenes in the mosaics of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome (c.432). Characteristically, the color of her robe was blue, starred or slashed with gold, and it was represented draped over her head. As Christian iconography (q.v.) developed, the scenes in which the Virgin figured increased, coin ing at last to include all the recorded events of her earthly life. Later her death (described by Pseudo-Dionysius 0.500 A.D.) and her ascent into heaven also became art themes. Finally in the Last Judgment and scenes from the Apocalypse she appears, usually as intercessor, on one side of Christ.
There is an uninterrupted series of paintings and sculptures from the time of the mosaics of Sant' Apollinare Nuovo at Ravenna to the Gothic period. showing how systematically Byzantine art created a Life of the Virgin, and how mein:r ya) Western art borrowed these scenes and de veloped them. It remained for Gothic art to embody the fnrther apotheosis of the Virgin so characteristic of the age of the Troubadours and the Minnesingers, of Saint Bernard and of the cathedrals all dedicated to the Virgin. She is there represented, as in the mosaic of Santa Maria in Trastevere '(c.1140) or the fresco by Orcagna in the Campo Santo at Pisa, or the sculptured portal of Notre Dame in Paris. as raised into the divine sphere by the side of ber Son. Raphael's Sistine Madonna is one of the most beautiful later representations of her as Queen of Heaven. .,Nlurillo portrays another fa vorite theme of the late Renaissance, the Virgin as the woman of Revelations with the moon or the globe under her feet. Still later came the Virgin of the Seven Sorrows, with pierced heart.
It was during the Gothic period that the de votion to the Virgin developed the artistic scene of the Virgin and Child, the most often repeated of any in art between the thirteenth and six teenth centuries. Guido of Siena, Cimabue, and Duccio painted its most beautiful early examples.
Fra Angelico. Filippo Lippi, Ohirlandajo, Gio vanni Bellini, Perugino, and a host of other painters 'followed in the fifteenth century. The scene, which was at first very simple, the Virgin and Child being accompanied merely by angels, or adored by the Magi or Shepherds, became complicated. The Magi were accompanied by a caravan of attendants; Saint John, Saint Catha rine, and other figures were introduced, as has been explained under HOLY FAMILY, and saints and fathers of the Church were added in the principal or in accessory scenes.
When applied to a painting or a sculptured group. the term usually signifies a representation of the Virgin and the Christ child, either alone or accompanied by saints, who are, however, accessories to the principal subject. It is to be distinguished from Inca similar themes as the "Holy Family" (q.v.), the Dolorosa." or the "Immaculate Concep tion." The best-known Madonnas were painted by Italian artists, by whom the theme was chiefly developed.
The emancipation from the stiff Byzantine type of the Madonna was effected in the latter thirteenth century by a number of Italians, chief among whom was Cimabue (q.v.). The two best examples of his Madonnas are in the Florentine Academy and in the Ruccelai Chapel, Santa Croce. While retaining the gold back ground and the stiff Byzantine type, they show many natural motifs. His younger contempo rary. Duccio of Siena, went much further, achiev ing a more ideal, if freer, as may be seen in his chief work. the altarpiece of the Cathedral of Siena still preserved there. Fra Angelico (1387-1455) repeatedly treated the subject, the best known examples being the "Madonna of the Star," in the Convent of San Marco (for Bins tration, see ANGELICO ) and the lifesize donna Enthroned." surrounded by the well-known angels (Uffizi. Florence)—both severely archaic in treatment. The first artist to break with this conventional treatment was Fra Filippo Lippi, who portrayed the Madonna and Child as the incarnation of maternal love and child ish innocence. One of his best known examples is the beautiful "Virgin Worshiping, the Child," lying on a flowery sward in a slimmer landscape. (Berlin .Museum) : another, in the Uffizi. repre sents two little angels lifting the child to the Madonna, who is engaged in devout meditation. The characteristics of Sandro Bottieelli's art are nowhere more delightfully revealed than in his Madonnas. Of the two charming circular specimens in the Uffizi. the "Magniheat" is the most representative of his early manner, while its companion piece holds the same rank for his later period. 13oth represent the Virgin crowned and adored by dreamy angels. See BOT TICELLI, ALESSANDRO.