Madonna del cardellino

Madonna del cardellino

It is a Madonna with a typically crivellesco style, with the cloth behind her mother and son, to divide the landscape in two: on the right the arid world like the big dry tree, before the coming of Christ, on the left the luxuriant world after his coming. In the Child’s right hand there is an open walnut, a symbol of man and wisdom (kernel as a brain), but also of sacrifice: the cross will be built with the wood of a walnut. In the Middle Ages, children used to play with a little bird held in a snare and Jesus holds a goldfinch because, according to a legend, this little bird, like the one who holds it, gets bloodied to eat what gives it its name: the thistle.

 

Religion, Sold