“Virgin of the Nightmare”

In my opinion, Leonardo Davinci stepped out on a limb when he created this painting. The society in which he lived did not react well to the setting he chose to set the Virgin and Christ child into. Before this work of Davinci, the Virgin Mary had always been placed in a throne, encircled by angels, in front of a gold background, in a flowered field, in front of majestic mountains, or anywhere peaceful or glorious. She was always portrayed as supernatural, pure, and beautiful. She was always accompanied by a background that evoked righteousness, grandeur, and characteristics of the heavenly realms. For example, the version that Raphael painted is entirely different from this depiction. The setting is a beautiful Tuscan landscape and Mary is calm, not showing a lot of emotion, but maintaining a controlled expression with little movement. With Davinci’s, Mary seems slightly perturbed simply from her hand motions and the backdrop in which she is placed. The jagged rocks in the background provide a menacing feeling and the dark background in general sets the picture into a melancholy mood. Mary’s left hand seems claw-like and the Christ child looks as if He is about to teeter off into blackish water. The whole effect is one of dark qualities and chaotic atmosphere. I believe Leonardo was trying to prove a point and even cause a stir in his society. For one, he had the power as a renowned and well-known artist to paint just about anything and the public would not shun him. But I don’t believe he painted this only to get a rise out of people. It could be that he believed the Madonna to be so controlled and unchangeable that no setting could demean her or change her character. In other words, whatever setting she was placed into would not matter in the light of her eternal purity and definitive image. I commend Davinci for his courage, his uniqueness, and his desire to take a stand.