Art of the Virgin Mary
85 artworks found
Marian painting is not one subject but a dozen, each with its own rules: the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Madonna and Child, the Pietà, the Assumption. Knowing which one you are looking at explains most of what the painter decided.
A Mother and Child Looking at the Virgin and Child by Reginald Bottomley - Framed Canvas
By: Reginald Bottomley
Annunciation by Petrus Christus - Framed Canvas
By: Petrus Christus
Annunciation by Francisco Rizi - Framed Canvas
By: Francisco Rizi
Christ Presents the Redeemed From Limbo to the Virgin by Fernando Yáñez de la Almedina - Framed Canvas
By: Fernando Yáñez de la Almedina
Annunciation by Nicolas Poussin - Framed Canvas
By: Nicolas Poussin
The Annunciation by Michel Dorigny - Framed Canvas
By: Michel Dorigny
Christ Taking Leave of His Mother by Albrecht Altdorfer - Framed Canvas
By: Albrecht Altdorfer
Carmignano Visitation by Pontormo - Framed Canvas
By: Pontormo
Christ between the Virgin and St John the Baptist by Jan Gossaert - Framed Canvas
By: Jan Gossaert
Death of the Virgin by Bartolomé Bermejo - Framed Canvas
By: Bartolomé Bermejo
Immaculate Conception by Goya - Framed Canvas
By: Goya
Immaculate Conception by Alonso Cano - Framed Canvas
By: Alonso Cano
Immaculate Conception by Francisco de Zurbarán - Framed Canvas
By: Francisco de Zurbarán
Madonna and Child with St Petronius and St John the Evangelist by Domenichino - Framed Canvas
By: Domenichino
Madonna and Child with St Justus of Volterra and St Margaret of Antioch by Bastiano Mainardi - Framed Canvas
By: Bastiano Mainardi
Madonna and Child by Giampietrino - Framed Canvas
By: Giampietrino
Madonna col Bambino tra S. Geremia e Maria Maddalena by Cima da Conegliano - Framed Canvas
By: Cima da Conegliano
Christ on the Cross with the Magdalen, the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Evangelist by Eustache Le Sueur - Framed Canvas
By: Eustache Le Sueur
Nursing Madonna by Bartolomeo Vivarini - Framed Canvas
By: Bartolomeo Vivarini
Madonna col Bambino tra i santi Giovanni evangelista e Nicola di Bari by Cima da Conegliano - Framed Canvas
By: Cima da Conegliano
Madonna and Child by Giovanni Bellini - Framed Canvas
By: Giovanni Bellini
Madonna of the Basket by Antonio da Correggio - Framed Canvas
By: Antonio da Correggio
Pietà by William-Adolphe Bouguereau - Framed Canvas
By: William-Adolphe Bouguereau
Madonna of the Catholic Kings by Fernando Gallego - Framed Canvas
By: Fernando Gallego
Madonna and Child by Pietro Lorenzetti - Framed Canvas
By: Pietro Lorenzetti
Madonna and Child with Saint Roch and Saint Sebastian by Lorenzo Lotto - Framed Canvas
By: Lorenzo Lotto
Mérode Altarpiece by Robert Campin - Framed Canvas
By: Robert Campin
Madonna with the Child and Two Angels by Filippo Lippi - Framed Canvas
By: Filippo Lippi
Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows by Adriaen Isenbrant - Framed Canvas
By: Adriaen Isenbrant
Madonna and Child with Saints by Cima da Conegliano - Framed Canvas
By: Cima da Conegliano
Maestà by Duccio di Buoninsegna - Framed Canvas
By: Duccio di Buoninsegna
Madonna and Child with St Dorothy by David Teniers the Younger - Framed Canvas
By: David Teniers the Younger
Presentation in the Temple by Simon Vouet - Framed Canvas
By: Simon Vouet
Presentation of Child Jesus in the Temple to Simeon by Sébastien Bourdon - Framed Canvas
By: Sébastien Bourdon
Saint James the Great's Vision of the Virgin Mary by Nicolas Poussin - Framed Canvas
By: Nicolas Poussin
St. Luke Displaying a Painting of the Virgin by Guercino - Framed Canvas
By: Guercino
The Annunciation by Leonardo da Vinci - Framed Canvas
By: Leonardo da Vinci
The Annunciation by Henry Ossawa Tanner - Framed Canvas
By: Henry Ossawa Tanner
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception by Francisco Rizi - Framed Canvas
By: Francisco Rizi
The Annunciation by Matthias Stom - Framed Canvas
By: Matthias Stom
The Annunciation by Fra Angelico - Framed Canvas
By: Fra Angelico
The Annunciation by Luca Giordano - Framed Canvas
By: Luca Giordano
Our Lady of Perpetual Help by Unknown - Framed Canvas
By: Unknown
Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist by Eustache Le Sueur - Framed Canvas
By: Eustache Le Sueur
Madonna of the Rose Garden by Bernardino Luini - Framed Canvas
By: Bernardino Luini
Madonna and Child with Saint Catherine and Saint Mary Magdalene by Giovanni Bellini - Matte Canvas
By: Giovanni Bellini
The Coronation of the Virgin by Diego Velázquez - Framed Canvas
By: Diego Velázquez
The Annunciation Under the Arch with Lilies by Maurice Denis - Matte Canvas
By: Maurice Denis
The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist (Madonna Stroganoff) by Agnolo Bronzino - Framed Canvas
By: Agnolo Bronzino
The Assumption of the Virgin by Francesco Botticini - Framed Canvas
By: Francesco Botticini
The Immaculate Conception by Claudio Coello - Framed Canvas
By: Claudio Coello
The Madonna and Child with Saints James the Greater, Jerome, the Infant Baptist and Catherine of Alexandria by Bonifazio Veronese - Matte Canvas
By: Bonifazio Veronese
The Immaculate Conception by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo - Matte Canvas
By: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
The Madonna and Child with Saints John the Baptist, Elizabeth and Catherine of Alexandria by Bonifazio Veronese - Framed Canvas
By: Bonifazio Veronese
The Divine Shepherdess by Miguel Cabrera - Framed Canvas
By: Miguel Cabrera
The Immaculate Conception by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo - Matte Canvas
By: Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
The Rest on the Flight into Egypt by Caravaggio - Framed Canvas
By: Caravaggio
The Education of the Virgin by Jean Jouvenet - Framed Canvas
By: Jean Jouvenet
The Girlhood of Mary Virgin by Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Matte Canvas
By: Dante Gabriel Rossetti
The Nativity by Fra Diamante - Framed Canvas
By: Fra Diamante
The Marriage at Cana by Gerard David - Matte Canvas
By: Gerard David
The Marriage of the Virgin by Luca Signorelli - Framed Canvas
By: Luca Signorelli
The Nativity by John Singleton Copley - Matte Canvas
By: John Singleton Copley
The Nativity by Federico Barocci - Matte Canvas
By: Federico Barocci
The Nativity of Christ by Albrecht Altdorfer - Framed Canvas
By: Albrecht Altdorfer
The Holy Family by Juan Simón Gutiérrez - Framed Canvas
By: Juan Simón Gutiérrez
The Panciatichi Holy Family by Agnolo Bronzino - Framed Canvas
By: Agnolo Bronzino
The Virgin and Child Enthroned among Angels and Saints by Benozzo Gozzoli - Framed Canvas
By: Benozzo Gozzoli
The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist by Leonardo da Vinci - Framed Canvas
By: Leonardo da Vinci
The Virgin and Child with Saint John by Antonio Solario - Framed Canvas
By: Antonio Solario
The Virgin and Child with Saint John by Filippino Lippi - Framed Canvas
By: Filippino Lippi
Virgin and Child by Ugolino di Nerio - Framed Canvas
By: Ugolino di Nerio
Virgin and Child with Angels and Saints by Felice Torelli - Matte Canvas
By: Felice Torelli
The Visitation by Jan Lievens - Framed Canvas
By: Jan Lievens
Virgin and Child with Two Angels by Cimabue - Framed Canvas
By: Cimabue
Visitation by Domenico Ghirlandaio - Framed Canvas
By: Domenico Ghirlandaio
Virgem dolorosa by Pedro Américo - Matte Canvas
By: Pedro Américo
Visitation by James Tissot - Framed Canvas
By: James Tissot
Virgin & Child Embracing by Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato - Framed Canvas
By: Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato
Visitation by Mariotto Albertinelli - Framed Canvas
By: Mariotto Albertinelli
Virgin Annunciate by Antonello da Messina - Framed Canvas
By: Antonello da Messina
Virgin Mary and Child Jesus by Roberto Ferruzzi - Framed Canvas
By: Roberto Ferruzzi
Our Lady of Guadalupe by Unknown - Framed Canvas
By: Unknown
The Magnificat by James Tissot - Framed Canvas
By: James Tissot
The Vision of St Bernard by Fra Bartolomeo - Framed Canvas
By: Fra Bartolomeo
The Marian subjects
The Annunciation is the most tightly governed. Gabriel enters from the left, Mary is interrupted at prayer or reading, and a lily stands somewhere between them. Painters worked within that frame rather than against it, and the interest is in how Mary receives the news — Fra Angelico's is composed and inclined, Lotto's recoils outright, Tanner's is a young girl on a bed facing a column of light with no wings in sight at all.
The Madonna and Child is where the real range shows. Byzantine versions are hieratic and frontal, the child a small adult raising his hand in blessing. Italian painting spends two centuries loosening this, and by Raphael the child is a child: squirming, reaching, gripping a fold of his mother's dress. Those pictures are doing theology — the Incarnation argued through the weight of a real infant on a real arm — but they read as tenderness first.
The blue is not symbolism alone. Ultramarine came from lapis lazuli mined in Afghanistan and cost more by weight than gold; contracts specified how much of it a painter would use and at whose expense. When a Madonna wears a full blue mantle, someone paid for the pigment, and the painter knew exactly what it was worth.