Mother's Day in Art: From Sacred to Secular Depictions of Maternity

Mother's Day, celebrated on the second Sunday of May in Italy (originally May 8), and on varying dates worldwide, prompts an iconographic survey of maternal figures in art history. Sacred representations dominate, including Pinturicchio and Ambrogio Lorenzetti's Madonna and Child, the Madonna Litta attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, and Jean Fouquet's strikingly modern Virgin and Child. Secular works feature artists' mothers, such as Vincent van Gogh's portrait; family groups by Hans Holbein the Younger, Édouard Manet (The Monet Family in the Garden at Argenteuil), and Egon Schiele (family self-portrait); and Gustav Klimt's The Three Ages of Woman. Additional examples include Gerard ter Borch's Mother Combing Her Daughter's Hair, Berthe Morisot's The Cradle, and Gino Severini's iconic Maternity. The article, by Desirée Maida on Artribune, also promotes newsletters on art market, urban regeneration, and cultural tourism.