The latest mural by Banksy reinterprets in a contemporary key the Christian iconography of the “Madonna with Child”, the most widespread religious image in the history of art. In the work of the controversial artist, currently only visible on his Instagram profile, we see a suffering Madonna trying in vain to breastfeed her baby: no official explanation or any clue that remotely explains the location of the stencil.
Rust comes out of the woman’s breast, the nipple appears like a badly maintained hole: the baby is distressed, unable to feed himself. A strong and engaging image, which, as always happens with the street artist’s works, inevitably speaks to everyone. In a very short time, thousands of comments flooded the social media account Banksy: many users, also remembering his constant activism against the war, saw in this image a metaphor representing the pain and torment experienced in this period by many Palestinian children. Some have defined the Madonna as a perfect “Mother of Gaza”, while others have focused precisely on the rust of the breast, almost as if Mother Earth was no longer able to nourish her children.
A comparison (not that far off) between the Madonna with child of Banksy and the Renaissance Madonnas
The representation of the Madonna and Child has different meanings in the history of art and reaffirms, starting from the end of the 13th century, a gradual distance between Italian painting and all those Byzantine and oriental models.
The contemporary Virgin Banksywith a melancholic and tired face, alludes to the faces of many Renaissance Madonnas. In fact, in many iconographies of the history of art, Mary appears sad enough to bow her head with her gaze lost in space. The reason is to be found in the Holy Scriptures: the Virgin is well aware of the destiny that awaits her son, mindful of the prophetic words pronounced by the old Simeon during the presentation of little Jesus in the temple: “A sword will pierce your soul (Lk 2.35)”.
The comparison with the recent mural is evident, just think of the melancholy look of the Majesty Of Ambrogio Lorenzettipart of a fresco of Piccolomini chapel from the church of Sant’Agostino a Sienaat the Madonna of the Carnation Of Leonardo da Vinci, to Raphael’s vast production, up to Tiepolo. Within a landscape that gently slopes towards the background, whether naturalistic or urban, as in the case of today, the variation of poses and gestures always creates the same look.
