Mary, one of the most venerated characters in all of scripture, has fascinated and captivated the hearts of many Christians throughout history. Whether it’s her humble submission to the will of the Lord, her faithful obedience, the many ponderings in her heart, or her beautiful Magnificat, Mary’s character is rich with theological depth. She is a powerful example and reminder to every Christian of the relationship between God and his people. Even more so, the womanhood of Mary completes the humanity of Christ. Through her pregnancy, birth, and lactation, Christ can fully embody the humanity of both women and men.
Her story and the importance of her femininity are captured in many artworks since the medieval period. One specific category is called the Madonna Lactans, which highlights Mary nursing Jesus. These paintings grew in popularity in 14th-century Italy, particularly because of the story of St. Bernard and his devotion to Mary that resulted in a vision of her squirting her breastmilk to him as a symbol of spiritual nourishment. However, these paintings caused controversy over how Mary’s breast should be shown and represented. In many of the paintings in this exhibit, you’ll notice many naturalistic representations of her breasts. This shows a shift from her less naturalistic representation in the 14th-century Italian Renaissance thanks to the work of Joos van Cleve and Jan Gossaert.
Joos van Cleve, Virgin and Child, Netherlandish ca. 1525
This is a Flemish piece by Joos van Cleve that shows Mary’s naturalistic “one bare breast” that appears in other 15th century Flemish art. However, for fear of being too naturalistic, her breast is not in the correct anatomical position in order to de-sexualize the image. The landscape in the background of the painting is a reminder of Mary and Joseph’s flight to Egypt after the birth of Jesus and many of the objects scattered in the painting are meant to be reminders of salvation, including the book that Mary holds that is open to the beginning of the De Profundis, the Gloria Patri, and the closing of the Magnificat. This painting would have been kept in a home as a model of virtuous family life and a loving mother and child.
Follower of Robert Campin, The Virgin and Child before a Firescreen, ca. 1440
In association with many of the miraculous stories of Mary’s life, the three drops of breastmilk in this painting can either be interpreted as an “invitation to meditate on Christ’s incarnation and sacrifice” or as the three jets of breastmilk that Mary gave to Saint Bernard in a vision. Mary is placed in a wealthy flemish home wearing a royal dress–indicating she is the queen of heaven. Additionally, Christ’s genitals are not covered in order to demonstrate the full humanity of Christ and his vulnerability as an unclothed child.
Jan van Eyck. Lucca Madonna, ca. 1436. Frankfurt am Main, Stadel Museum, inv. No. 944, picture no. 7143
This is another Flemish piece that makes Mary’s breast more naturalistic and less modest than it would have been in Italian paintings. Jesus’s position intentionally lets the viewer see the breast even though Jesus is partially latched. Mary is presented as the queen of heaven again in her regal robes and poshly decorated netherlandish room. Jesus also holds a piece of fruit which is another common object in this series. Unfortunately, scholars aren’t sure who commissioned this painting or what it was used for, which makes it difficult to determine whether Mary and Jesus are set in an ecclesiastical space or a domestic space.
This painting was the first to picture the story of St. Bernard and the jet of milk from Mary. After praying in front of a statue of Mary and saying “Ave Maris Stella,” he received a vision and the statue came to life. He said “show yourself to be a mother” and she squirted three jets of milk into his mouth. Using a gothic style that was most popular in Aragon and Catalonia, the style appears to have more of a French influence than Italian. It was an altarpiece by Pedro Nicolau painted for a convent, and it began a series of images often found in illuminations that were dedicated to Saint Bernard.
Simon Marmion, Saint Bernard’s Vision of the Virgin and Child, ca. 1475-1480. Getty Museum collection.
This image came from a devotional book to help illuminate the legend of Saint Bernard (1090-1153). The words that he spoke to the statue are inscribed at the top of the painting in Latin and the scene is set as Saint Bernard watches them come to life. Painted with gold and tempera paint in Northern France, Simon Marmion was a Flemish artist who did work on illuminated manuscripts. In this painting, Saint Bernard is closest to the viewer and this helps the viewer to experience the perspective of Saint Bernard in his story. The purpose of this story in a prayer book would have been to remember God as the ultimate source of life and model after the humility and faith of Saint Bernard.
References
Jutta Sperling. “Squeezing, Squirting, Spilling Milk: The Lactation of Saint Bernard and the Flemish Madonna Lactans (ca. 1430–1530).” Renaissance Quarterly 71, no. 3 (2018): 881. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26561012.
Megan Holmes, “Disrobing the Virgin: The Madonna Lactans in Fifteenth-Century Florentine Art,” in Geraldine A. Johnson and Sara F. Matthews Grieco, eds, Picturing Women in Renaissance and Baroque Italy (Cambridge, 1997), 167–95.
Medieval and Renaissance Lactations : Images, Rhetorics, Practices, edited by Jutta Gisela Sperling, Taylor & Francis Group, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ccl/detail.action?docID=4512356.
Guy C. Bauman. "The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Addenda to the Catalogue." Metropolitan Museum Journal 21 (1986): 154–59.
Leeflang, Micha. “‘Was Ihr wollt.’ Joos van Cleves Werkstatt und der Kunstmarkt.” In Joos
van Cleve: Leonardo des Nordens (2011), 132–55.
“The Virgin and Child before a Firescreen.” n.d. The National Gallery. https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/follower-of-robert-campin-the-virgin-and-child-before-a-firescreen.
Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker, "Jan van Eyck, Lucca Madonna," in Smarthistory, June 11, 2025, accessed December 1, 2025, https://smarthistory.org/jan-van-eyck-lucca-madonna/.
Bauer, D. (2015). MILK AS TEMPLAR APOLOGETICS IN THE ST. BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX ALTARPIECE FROM MAJORCA. Studies in Iconography, 36, 79. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44735519
“Saint Bernard’s Vision of the Virgin and Child.” n.d. Getty Museum Collection. https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/108E4F.
