The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne
7:00 AM
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| Leonardo da Vinci, The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, 1508-1510 |
We are merely people, not yet shaped but stable enough to go on day in and day out. We abide in a world that is not fully formed and constantly changing, we all live with a sense on instability great enough to allow us to live. Just as the landscape moves from young to old, so does the succession of subjects in the front. Leonardo da Vinci paints Mary sitting on her mother's lap returned to childhood innocence while she playfully grabs at her own son in The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne. The slightly bent bodies all resemble one another through their slight smirks, and clear familial resemblance. They all watch over each other and their stories intertwine.
Saint Anne would be Mary’s mother for those of us who aren’t Mary historians; although, she is never mentioned in the New Testament. She began to come into popular culture because of the Apocrypha, more specifically "Protoevangelium of James"(a big word for gospel). The Saint Anne craze hit the West in the thirteenth century when it was coupled with the Immaculate Conception, and the new religious relics that the crusaders “peacefully” acquired. She is never depicted without her daughter and Jesus. For those of you now completely taken with Saint Anne Metterza, her feast in on July 26th, which should be noted is also the day Florence put an end to the rule of the Duke of Athens.
Mary observes her son; her maternal eyes carefully monitoring his every move while she still has the ability to help him. She understands one day he will leave home, and fulfill the prophesy carved out for him. But, for now he is merely a child playing with a new friend, a lamb. The lamb symbolizes all Jesus will sacrifice in his short life.
The light shines directly unto the faces of Mary and Jesus, allowing the viewer to understand that they know their role on the Earth and their connections to the Heavens. The boy does not look for acceptance or approval from his mother, he wishes to show her what he will become; however, she already knows, for it is the viewer that must see the exchange and acknowledge it.
Despite all the seventeen years of life I have under my belt, I still run to my mother in cases of bad hair days, grades, or boy issues. She comforts me, and tells me I am unrepeatable. I am hers and she is mine. I dread the day when my bags will be waiting for me in the back of my family's car and they'll be dropping me off at college, letting me go. Telling me it is my time to make my own way in life. I'll look at my mother and see the look in Mary's eyes, although not quite as dramatic, as she realizes I'm going, and I really don't want too. I will restrain from reaching out to her and begging not to let me go, but she can't let me stay. I must begin to write my own life story without her reassuring hold.
Despite all the seventeen years of life I have under my belt, I still run to my mother in cases of bad hair days, grades, or boy issues. She comforts me, and tells me I am unrepeatable. I am hers and she is mine. I dread the day when my bags will be waiting for me in the back of my family's car and they'll be dropping me off at college, letting me go. Telling me it is my time to make my own way in life. I'll look at my mother and see the look in Mary's eyes, although not quite as dramatic, as she realizes I'm going, and I really don't want too. I will restrain from reaching out to her and begging not to let me go, but she can't let me stay. I must begin to write my own life story without her reassuring hold.
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