- In the manner of Caravaggio this classic portrait is posed for a 21st century Madonna and Child, yet it is more like a renaissance painting than a photograph, almost as if Artemisia Gentileschi photographed it, had she had a camera. The skin tone and the tan lines between the two figures exposed bodies draws us into the present in a very subtle way. The lighter tone of the Madonna’s breast, and the bikini line of the infant Christ becomes more apparent as we realize the child is also female. Christ’s predestined suffering is seen here by the child’s out stretched arm, emphasizing the crucifixion to come, with the feminine essence embodied in this child who will have to bear the weight of a tortured woman in order to become a suffering God.

Madonna and Child