Mother and Child

Artists have long represented the universal bonds between mother and child—in drawing, prints, painting, and photography. The theme became especially popular during the Middle Ages and Renaissance with the demand for images of the Madonna and Christ child. Many of the images focus attention on the tender interaction between the two figures—typically a woman holding and gazing lovingly upon her child, who sits or playfully leans across her lap. For an in-depth look at a twentieth-century interpretation of the theme, explore Chicago artist Margaret Burroughs’s artwork Mother and Child.