Art Guide - February 2018

Columban - Calendar Art Guide - February 2018  

The Birth of the Virgin (fresco, 1516-1521) by Luini, Bernardino (c.1480-1532)

The Milanese artist and follower of Leonardo Da Vinci invests this domestic scene with typical North-Italian earthy realism. The detail depicts the midwives busily preparing Mary’s birth. Midwives performed a vital role in late medieval life. Their skilful care and support of both the mother and the newborn was vital at a time when mortality rates were high for both mother and child. The older woman at left extends her arm towards the basin lying just out of sight of the detail reproduced. Meanwhile the younger woman at opposite pours water from the heavy metal ewer into the Virgin’s first bath. Mary surprisingly alert for a newborn turns as if distracted by the younger woman grappling with the heavy vessel. Behind these figures in the foreground glimpses of domestic utensils including metal pitchers, chargers and bowls remind us that often these items served a utilitarian and a symbolic function. Bowls might hold nourishing chicken soup for the exhausted mother. On a less practical note, expensive objects like the metal ewers were given as gifts to celebrate the birth of a child. The fresco of the Birth of the Virgin originally decorated a chapel dedicated to St Joseph in the Milanese church of St Maria della Pace. Although some 500 years separates us today from the original viewers of the fresco, through Luini’s artistry we can glimpse the profound paradox at the heart of the imagery of giving birth. The midwives’ presence remind us that often the most practical of acts are intimately connected to the most sacred moments of our lives. New life in all its forms (whether real or symbolic) benefits from wise and practical guides and comforters.

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