WOMAN IN ART
pendant on the marble steps. Kneeling men in the foreground display the richness of Venetian brocade in mantelletta and cope, and the turbaned head of Mohammed inclines to the substituted figures of Frederick II, who upholds the elaborated embroidered banner of Venice. A monk, of the tonsured crown and rope girdle, stands on the opposite side of the canvas speaking to the Infant in the arms of the mother, who is seated on the base of the column. A floating cloud bisects the great columns, and within it appear two cherubs holding a small cross. The whole is a masterpiece of Titian's color and the magnificence of Venice.
Raphael painted seventy-four Madonnas in his short life, beside stanzas, signatura walls, church pictures, etc. The Madonnas painted in his earlier years seem more spiritual, of a more inspiring countenance and younger in years, thereby expressing a scriptural and traditional statement concerning the youth of the Virgin. Some of the holy mothers depicted in art give an impression of a careworn spirit, when perhaps it expresses such a fact in the life of the woman who served as model. In contrast is the Madonna di San Sisto in the Dresden Gallery, considered the most wonderful of all representations of the Virgin. In that rare face we read the heart-thoughts of the young, the wondering mother. We wonder, we question as she must have questioned many times and oft, concerning the meaning, the mystery, the mission of her Son.
Mary, of the Hebrews, was not only versed in the prophecies of their scriptures but her mind and spirit had been imbued by the Holy Spirit, and an angel of God had foretold her of the birth of the Child she holds in her arms. Inspired by the sacred honor of motherhood and the mystery and fact of prophecy fulfilled, with yet more to be fulfilled, the San Sisto Madonna looks into the future with wonderment and awe. The responsibility and love that has come to her with her sweet and marvelous babe gleams from her face and from her clasp of the little one to her breast. He is hers yet not hers. He is born with a mission, and the mother is God's helper in preparing Him for that mission. The throng of thoughts that mean motherhood can be read in that saintly face, and so powerful is thought to the human soul that the soul of the Child seems one with hers.
Such is the beauty and mystery of spirit.
It was the mystery of prophecy that gave Mary the words of the "Magnificat": "My soul doth magnify the Lord, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.'"
244
