Mary holding baby Jesus statue

The Madonna and Child is the most depicted single subject in Western art — a tradition that begins with the catacomb paintings of 2nd-century Rome and reaches its summit in the panels of Raphael, the marbles of Michelangelo, and the icons of Andrei Rublev. Mary holding her infant son carries the entire Christian doctrine of the Incarnation in one tender, recognisable image: divinity in the arms of motherhood.