15 - Spanish School. Mid-16th century.

Spanish School. Mid-16th century. “Virgo Lactans or Virgo Nutrizia.” Oil on panel. 53 x 67 cm. A magnificent devotional panel in its period frame, reinforced by four wrought-iron corner brackets that “compress and contain” all its beauty within this small window filled with tenderness and delight, offering nourishment for the soul and the senses. The “Virgo Lactans” is a devotional title and iconographic representation of the Virgin Mary nursing the Christ Child. The earliest known depiction of this subject is found in the Catacombs of Priscilla in Rome (c. 255 AD). It is also associated with the influence of the iconography of the Egyptian goddess Isis nursing Horus (Isis Lactans). In the early Church, a mother’s milk symbolized spiritual nourishment, divine grace, and a foreshadowing of the Eucharist, evoking the milk and honey given to neophytes at baptism. During the Council of Trent in the sixteenth century, the Catholic Church began to discourage this depiction on grounds of decorum and modesty, although it continued to enjoy considerable popular devotion in countries such as Spain, Italy, and Portugal until the seventeenth century. The sanctuary known as the Milk Grotto is located in Bethlehem, very close to the traditional site of Jesus’s birth. According to tradition and popular legend, as the Holy Family fled to Egypt, Mary took refuge in a red-stone grotto. While she was nursing Jesus, a drop of milk fell onto the rock, turning it white. The sanctuary has traditionally been visited by married couples seeking the Virgin’s intercession in conceiving a child, as well as during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Spain preserves outstanding works of art featuring this iconography, including notable sculptures and paintings such as the alabaster sculpture in the National Museum of Sculpture, the polychrome terracotta relief by La Roldana in the Museum of Fine Arts of Seville, and another work by the same artist recently acquired by the Prado Museum. Our Virgo Lactans is depicted as a Sedes Sapientiae, seated on a gilded throne beneath an elaborately crafted canopy. Wearing a crown in the Roman-Byzantine style and draped in an emerald-green mantle symbolizing hope, she holds the Christ Child, whose halo takes the form of a disc, in the Italian Renaissance style. Both figures gaze directly at the viewer, establishing a sacra conversazione. Three figures appear in the scene, easily identifiable by the inscriptions on the plinths or steps and on the door jamb. Saint Joseph stands on the left, acting as a “devoted husband” as he tends to his wife and newborn son. He carries a basin, a towel, and a plate containing bread and water. On the right, the maternal grandmother, Saint Anne, guides and supports Jesus’s cousin, Saint John the Baptist. He carries a small basket of fruit and a fine thread extending from his right hand—the same thread held by the little bird in the grandmother’s hand: a European goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis), a portent of Christ’s Passion. This bird feeds on thistle seeds and thorns, which were associated with Christ’s crown of thorns. Furthermore, the small red markings in its plumage have been interpreted as a reference to the drops of blood shed during his sacrifice. Examples of this motif in art include *Madonna of the Goldfinch*, the celebrated painting by Raphael (c. 1505–1506), in which the young Saint John the Baptist offers a goldfinch to his cousin. Another example is *The Holy Family with a Little Bird* by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (c. 1650), in which the Christ Child holds a goldfinch while interacting with a small dog and Saint John the Baptist.