The Madonna and Child in Art Quiz | Art

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. This well-known depiction of the Virgin and Child is painted in the Byzantine style and touchingly depicts the Christ child placing his hand in the Virgin's, while looking up at the archangel Gabriel holding aloft the cross. A persistent legend says that it was painted by the disciple and evangelist St. Luke, though it probably dates from no earlier than the 13th century. It was on display in Rome from about the 16th century and disappeared for a time during the Napoleonic Wars, but reappeared some forty years later. What is this painting's traditional title?

Answer: Our Lady of Perpetual Help

This well-known painting has a long and fascinating history. It seems to have been the work of a Greek artist; the Greek letters next to Mary read "Mother of God"; next to Jesus is written "Jesus Christ". The two archangels, Michael and Gabriel, hold aloft instruments of the Passion; Michael holds the lance and spear, while Gabriel holds up the Cross.

The child is depicted not as a plump infant, but as a perfectly formed little man, a tradition that would persist in Christian art until the Renaissance.

The painting was on public display in Crete until about 1495, when it was purchased by a wealthy citizen for his own home. According to legend, a child who had seen the image had a vision in which the Virgin expressed her displeasure at the image's being removed from public veneration, and expressed her desire to be known to all Christians as their "perpetual help".

The painting was subsequently displayed at the church of St. Matthew in Rome; it was spirited away during the invasion of Rome by the French in 1798, out of fear that it would be destroyed or desecrated.

In the mid 19th century, a Redemptorist priest who had heard about the painting as a child went in search of it and found it in an Augustinian chapel, where it had been moved for safekeeping. "Our Lady of Perpetual Help" is one of the most revered and venerated images in Christian art; the legend attributing it to St. Luke (who is the traditional patron of artists) is charming, but undoubtedly nothing more than a legend. It is, however, one of the oldest depictions of the Madonna and Child in existence.

2. Giotto's painting of the Madonna and Child (c.1320-30) borrows certain characteristics of the Byzantine style, such as the gold background and dark-colored robes. Following the then-established tradition, he also depicts the Christ Child as a miniature, perfectly formed man with a mature expression; however he departs somewhat from tradition by having him playfully grasp his mother's finger (as infants are wont to do) as he reaches for something she is holding in her right hand; what is it?

Answer: A rose

The rose has a dual symbolism; its white flower represents Mary's purity, while its sharp thorns recall the Passion, when Christ will be crowned with thorns. This Madonna was painted on an arch-shaped piece of wood and was possibly the central section of an altarpiece or polyptych.

3. The "Wilton Diptych" was painted around 1395 and was the personal property of an English monarch. The right-hand side of the diptych depicts the Virgin and Child against a gold background. The Virgin wears a brilliant blue mantle and veil and is surrounded by blue-clad angels with blue-grey wings tipped with black. The Christ child is wrapped in cloth of gold. The abundant blue and gold in this painting was created using costly lapis-lazuli and gold leaf. The left-hand panel depicts the painting's owner, who kneels in adoration of the Virgin and Child and is surrounded by his three patron saints. Which ill-fated English monarch was the owner of the Wilton Diptych?

Answer: Richard II

Richard II was deposed and forced to abdicate in 1399, having been overthrown by his cousin Henry Bolingbroke, and was imprisoned at Pontrefact Castle. In 1400, he died at Pontrefact, possibly at the instigation of Bolingbroke (now Henry IV) who is believed to have had him murdered.

His troubled reign is the subject of one of Shakespeare's greatest historical plays. The Wilton Diptych was created for him; he took it with him when he traveled and used it for private devotion. Richard is depicted on the left panel; behind him are his three patron saints: St. Edward the Confessor, St. Edmund, and St. John the Baptist. Ironically enough, in light of Richard's violent end, two of these (Edmund and John the Baptist) were martyrs.

The outside of the diptych depicts Richard's arms and his emblem- a white hart with a crown around its neck.

This beautiful work is by an unknown artist.

4. Among the many paintings of the Madonna and Child by the 15th century Venetian artist Carlo Crivelli is one dated about 1480, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, in which the Christ child holds a goldfinch, making the painting a sort of predecessor to Raphael's "Madonna del Cardellino". The most noticeable feature in this painting, however, is not the goldfinch, but a far more unseemly creature who is perched on the marble ledge on which the Christ child sits and upon which the gaze of both mother and son are directed; what is it?

Answer: A fly

There are elements of subtle humor in many of Crivelli's devotional paintings, but this one seems to have been created by the artist in a particularly naughty mood. The Virgin and Child seem to be surrounded with symbols of decay and ruin; a festoon of apples (symbol of the Fall of Man) decorates the canopy over them, with one enormous cucumber dangling to the left of the Virgin's head.

The cucumber is a favorite symbol of Crivelli's; a cucumber lies alongside an apple in the foreground of his "Annunciation".

It is said to represent life and renewal, but its obvious phallic possibilities cannot be ignored. To the right of the painting, a section of the marble ledge on which the Christ child sits is so badly cracked as to be nearly crumbling.

Then there's that enormous fly, an unmistakeable symbol of disease and decay. It stands in sharp contrast to the elegant trappings of the painting and the eyes of both mother and son are irresistably drawn to it, the Virgin's with a look of prim, bored distaste; the child's with a look of avid little-boy interest, he pays no attention at all to the goldfinch he has cupped rather uncomfortably in his chubby hands.

The sly humor in this painting extends even to the haloes worn by mother and son; there is no attempt at all to suggest a circle of light, these haloes are thick golden plates studded with enormous, crudely cut gems, and they cast a shadow!

5. Choosing from among the many beautiful depictions of the Madonna and Child by Sandro Botticelli was not easy, but I have settled on the "Madonna of the Eucharist", painted c.1470 and currently owned by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusets. The painting derives its title from the items presented by an angel to the Virgin and Child to be given their divine blessing; what items are these?

Answer: Grapes and wheat

In this painting, a white-clad angel presents a basket of grapes and wheat to the Madonna and Child. These are the elements from which the bread and wine will be created which, at the consecration of the Mass, will mystically be transformed into the Body of Christ. The Virgin lovingly fingers the contents of the basket while the child in her lap raises his hand in benediction, after the manner of the priest at the consecration.

6. Several of Raphael's many depictions of the Madonna and Child, including the famous "Madonna della Sedia" ("Madonna of the Chair"), the "Madonna del Cardellino" ("Madonna of the Goldfinch") and his "Alba Madonna" depict the Virgin and Child in the company of this male saint, depicted as a child.

Answer: St. John the Baptist

Raphael was only one of many artists who depicted the Virgin and Child in the company of Jesus' cousin and precursor John the Baptist; others include da Vinci in his "Madonna of the Rocks" and Botticelli in his "Madonna of the Rose Garden", to name but a few (including several more of Raphael's). According to St. Luke's gospel, the birth of St. John was announced to his father Zachary in the Temple by the angel Gabriel, not long before the annunciation to Mary of the birth of Jesus.

When Mary went to visit Elizabeth (her cousin and John's mother), the child in Elizabeth's womb leapt for joy at the sound of her greeting. Paintings of the Virgin and child with St. John frequently depict the Christ child elevated somewhat above his older cousin, to emphasize Christ's divinity. Often Jesus sits in Mary's lap while John stands or sits on the ground (the "Goldfinch" Madonna being an exception; here, Jesus is clearly much smaller than John, even though he stands on Mary's feet to raise himself). John frequently holds a cross-topped staff, symbolizing Christ's Passion and death.

The "Madonna della Sedia" is notable both for its extreme tenderness and for the fact that Mary here wears the colorful garb of a countrywoman instead of her usual colors of blue and red. Of this painting, the French Impressionist master Renoir said "I went to see this picture just to have a good laugh - and I found myself in front of the most wonderfully free, solid, simple, alive painting it is possible to imagine - arms and legs of real flesh, and what a touching expression of maternal tenderness!"

7. One of the most charming depictions of the Madonna and Child is by the 15-16th century French artist Gerard David in a painting dated about 1510. In this painting, the Virgin sits on a grassy mound with the Child in her lap and holds up a bunch of grapes for him to eat. Although at first glance this painting seems to be a typical "Madonna and Child", the presence of a donkey tied up nearby, of a basket at Mary's feet, and of Joseph in the background foraging for chestnuts tells us that this painting depicts a particular scene from the infancy of Christ; what is the painting's title?

Answer: The Rest on the Flight into Egypt

This lovely painting is rich in symbolism; the grapes which Mary offers the child indirectly recall the Eucharist. Joseph holds a long staff with which he is attempting to knock some chestnuts from a tree, which recalls numerous medieval legends in which the Christ Child (sometimes from within Mary's womb) commands fruiting trees to bend their branches so that his mother may take their fruit; one such legend is recounted in the "Cherry Tree Carol", popular in both England and parts of America. Many artists have depicted the Holy Family in a moment of rest during the desperate flight from the wrath of King Herod; one famous depiction by 19th - 20th century French artist Luc Olivier Merson shows the mother and child nestling between the arms of the Sphinx while Joseph sleeps by the fire, staff in hand.

8. A celebrated altarpiece painted in Germany c.1515 by a great German artist has a Madonna and Child as its central panel. The Virgin wears a rose-colored robe with a dark blue cape and holds the plump Christ child, who seems to be falling asleep, in her hands. To the left, a group of radiant angel musicians serenades the mother and son under an ornate canopy. At the Virgin's feet sit a humble child's bed and a laundry basket, contrasting with the splendor of the rest of the scene. The left and right panels of this altarpiece depict, respectively, the Annunciation and a Resurrection, in which a radiant-faced Christ seems to literally float up from the tomb. The back of the altarpiece depicts SS. Paul and Antony in the desert and includes the Temptation of St. Antony. The altarpiece is perhaps best known, however, for the vividly gruesome depiction of the Crucifixion painted on the front doors. Which of these celebrated altarpieces is it?

Answer: The Isenheim Altarpiece (Matthias Grunewald)

The Isenheim Altarpiece was painted for the hospital of the Monastery of St. Antony; it is currently displayed at the Unterlinden Museum in Colmar. It was painted at the height of the plague, and the terrible figure of Christ's broken, torn, and scarred body on the Cross was Grunewald's artistic response to the daily horrors he was forced to witness.

The beautiful and charming "Concert of Angels and Nativity" on the central panel are nearly as well-known as the Crucifixion and the Temptation of St. Antony.

This depiction is notable for two striking and unusual features; the unexpected and jarring presence of the dark-feathered figure of Lucifer, playing a bass-violin at the back of the celestial orchestra (is he adding his own discordant note to the concert or is he forced, along with the rest of the angelic host, to pay homage in music?) and the presence of the radiant crowned figure of the Immaculate Virgin, gazing at herself and her divine son, at the entrance of the canopy, making this one of the few depictions of the Madonna and Child in which the Virgin is depicted twice.

The Isenheim Altarpiece is Grunewald's masterpiece and his best-known work; the troubled and eventful life of this unique, visionary German artist, who died in 1528, was the subject of the 20th century composer Paul Hindmeth's opera (and symphony) "Mathis der Maler".

9. Leonardo da Vinci's sketch for his celebrated painting "Madonna and Child with St. Anne" is almost as well-known as the finished painting. Several changes were made before da Vinci completed the oil painting, which now hangs in the Louvre; which of these was NOT one of them?

Answer: St. Joseph was originally in the background.

In the famous sketch of the "Madonna and Child With St. Anne", which hangs in London's National Gallery and is known also as the Burlington House Cartoon, the Virgin sits astride her mother's knee and holds the child in her lap. The child plays with the infant St. John the Baptist, who stands on the ground (Joseph does not appear in either the sketch or the painting), while St. Anne holds up an admonishing finger to her daughter.

In the painting, Mary sits across her mother's capacious lap (the subtle enlargement of St. Anne's form in both the sketch and the painting recalls that of the figure of Mary in Michelangelo's famous "Pieta") and bends to pick up the Christ child, who is playing with a lamb on the ground.

The lamb replaces the figure of St. John, while serving as a symbol of him (John had called Christ the Lamb of God; a lamb is one of his traditonal symbols in art).

The re-positioning of the two women in the painting suggests the nature imagery of a tree (St. Anne) of which Mary is the branch. Paintings of a very youthful Virgin with her mother and infant son were a popular subject with Renaissance artists; this is probably the most famous.

10. The great Michelangelo gave us several renditions of the Madonna and Child in sculpture and bas-relief. Among these are the Bruges Madonna (a sculpture; the head of the Virgin is strikingly similar to that in the "Pieta"), the Pitti Madonna and the Madonna de la Scala (both bas-reliefs) and the Medici Madonna. The latter is actually a set of three sculptures, the central one being the Madonna and Child who are flanked by these two early Christian martyrs, who are the patron saints of physicians.

Answer: SS. Cosmas and Damien

In 1519, Michelangelo was commissioned to design the New Sacristy (Medici Chapel) for the church of San Lorenzo in Florence. Upon Michelangelo's permanent departure from Florence in 1534, the three figures comprising the Medici Madonna (as well as the statue of Victory) were abandoned, uncompleted, in his workshop.

The pose of this Madonna and Child represents Michelangelo at his most athletic; the amazingly muscular Christ child turns to climb into his mother's lap. The quasi-masculine figure of the Virgin resembles one of the sibyls from the Sistine ceiling as she both turns and bends to lift the child. Cosmas and Damien, the two saints who flank the Madonna, were twin brothers who were martyred for their Christian faith early in the 4th century. According to legend, they were both physicians and are the traditional patrons of that profession; as such, they were the tutelary patrons of the Medici family (the name Medici means "doctors" in Italian).

11. Francesco de Zurbaran's "Christ and the Virgin in the House at Nazareth" (c.1630) is a rare depiction of the Virgin with the older Christ child. In this painting, Christ appears to be about nine or ten years old and sits across the room from his mother. Mary observes, with a look of intense pity and sadness, that he has injured himself; what has he been doing?

Answer: Plaiting a crown of thorns

This unique painting presents a poignant allegory of the separation that eventually takes place between all parents and their children. Christ tends to his own injured finger, leaving the crown of thorns in his lap; he does not cry and shows no sign of pain.

The Virgin looks sorrowfully across the darkened room at the child who can no longer sit in the protective space of her lap and arms and who no longer seeks her consolation when hurt. The presence of two turtledoves on the floor subtly recalls the infant Jesus' presentation at the Temple years before to be circumcised, when the prophet Simeon had foretold that a sword would one day pierce Mary's soul.

12. The 1819 painting entitled "The Virgin of the Harvest" is significant in that it is the first important painting by this great 19th century French artist.

Answer: Eugene Delacroix

This early painting of Delacroix's depicts the Virgin and Child standing amid sheafs of wheat, hence the title. The painting imitates the pose and style of Raphael's "La Belle Jardiniere", and is something of a pastiche of that much earlier painting. However, it gives us an early indication of Delacroix's brilliant technique and, as such, is highly significant. Delacroix would return to this subject in the 1822 "Virgin of the Sacred Heart"; little of his subsequent output was religious or devotional, his preferred subjects being scenes from great literature, history, and legends, as well as scenes from the Middle East.

13. This 1891 painting depicts the Virgin as a young Tahitian woman wearing a red dress imprinted with white flowers, carrying the sleeping child on her shoulder. She stands amid flowering bushes and is being venerated by two other native women and by an angel who is partly hidden behind one of the bushes. The title of the painting is "La Orana Maria" ("Hail Mary"). Which of these 19th century French artists created this painting?

Answer: Paul Gauguin

In a letter to a friend, Gauguin declared himself "rather happy" with this charming painting, one of his few treatments of a Christian religious subject (another is the famous 1889 "Yellow Christ"). The unusual position of the Christ child - sitting astride his mother's shoulder and using her head as a pillow - was typical of the way native Tahitian women carried their infants.

The salutation "La Orana", meaning either "Hail" or "Hello" is a common Tahitian salutation.

14. Between 1948 and 1951, French artist Henri Matisse devoted himself to the decoration of the Dominican convent chapel at Vence. This remarkable achievement included designing the stained glass windows, the vestments and tabernacle, and the painting of three large murals, depicting St. Dominic, the Madonna and Child, and the Stations of the Cross. What is unusual about Matisse's painting of the Madonna and Child?

Answer: All of these

The strikingly unusual murals at the Vence chapel are painted in black on panels of white tile and resemble, at first glance, something that a pious Catholic graffiti artist might execute on a subway or restroom wall. Matisse used no color in these murals and all of the human figures, including the Virgin and child have "visages vides" (empty faces). Matisse used this last device in a number of his paintings, including "Bonheur des Vivres", "Nude, Spanish Carpet", and "Nude in Front of a Hearth", to name but a few.

His purpose in doing this was to focus attention on the form without the individualization and personalization of the face. In his "Madonna and Child", the Virgin offers her Son to the world, holding him forward in an attitude of giving; the Child opens His arms as they will be opened on the cross.

The absence of faces here is symbolic of the surrender of both mother and son to the will of God. The two figures are surrounded by clouds and the single word "AVE" ("Hail") appears in the upper-left corner of the mural.

The stained-glass windows across from this painting (also designed by Matisse) splash blue and white light on the mural.

15. Salvador Dali's 1950 painting "The Madonna of Port Lligat" is a typical example of the artist's religious art, which includes an "Assumption", two Crucifixions, a "Temptation of St. Antony", and a "Last Supper". The Virgin sits enthroned with Christ on her lap under a (typically) fractured stone arch poised in midair above an altar. Among the numerous striking, and somewhat bizarre images in this work (which includes a rhinoceros) is a sort of window cut, as it were, in the center of both the Virgin and Christ child's bodies through which an object can be seen; what is the object?

Answer: A piece of bread

The piece of bread is a symbol of the Eucharist, making this painting a sort of 20th century response to Botticelli's "Madonna of the Eucharist". The window-like perforations in the bodies of the mother and child reflect the similarly perforated crags that lined the shores of the Costa Brava in Dali's homeland.

A number of sea shells also figure in the painting, including a baptismal scallop shell directly above the Virgin and Child from which an egg (a symbol of life and fertility) is being poured down.

The model for the Virgin in this painting was Dali's wife (and muse) Gala.

Source: Author jouen58

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The Madonna and Child in Art Trivia Quiz

This quiz explores some of the various depictions of one of the most popular subjects in post-Christian art, from the Byzantine era to the 20th century. Enjoy!

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