The nursing queen: Sculptures of the “Virgo Lactans” in late medieval France

Description

This dissertation examines one subset of late medieval Marian imagery, the sculptures of the Virgo Lactans, or Virgin nursing the Christ child. I combine close looking at the sculptures with an inquiry into their artistic, social and devotional context through an examination of a variety of texts and images related to the image of the nursing Virgin to answer the following questions: What connections can be made between the growing popularity of the Virgo Lactans and other general trends in the devotional practices of this time? And in what way might medieval viewers of these sculptures have used or understood these works in light of medieval attitudes towards the breast and breastfeeding? I first present the Virgo Lactans sculptures within the larger context of the cult of the Virgin Mary. I then examine one specific component of her cult, the devotion to relics of her milk, and how the metaphor of milk as symbol of wisdom and mercy might have colored approaches to these sculptures. Next, I juxtapose these images with medieval texts concerning the breast and the act of breastfeeding to suggest a range of responses to the contradictory image of the virginal Queen of Heaven nursing her son. The rise in popularity of the Virgo Lactans as a sculpted devotional image occurred at the same time of the rise of a new, affective piety that focused on the bodily experience of salvation. I suggest, therefore, that the sculpted image of the Virgo Lactans was a new type of image, nourished by the rise of the mendicant orders and the desire of patrons to commission images resonant with earlier Parisian prototypes. The tension between the image of an idealized queen and the reality of motherhood created an image of Mary as a figure who nourishes her infant son, and by extension, the faithful, with her milk, "manna from heaven," in the words of the Franciscan monk Bernardino of Siena. The sculpted image of the Virgo Lactans thus highlights both the human nature of Christ and Mary's special status as intercessor and as one born free from Original Sin.