THE BLACK MADONNA AND CHILD Intaglio 5-inch x 7 inch

THE BLACK MADONNA AND CHILD Intaglio 5 inch x 7 inch

The origins of the Black Madonna are mysterious. For many years speculation arose that the coloring of the Black Madonna was due to the accumulated soot from candles burned near the images.

Today the meaning of the Black Madonna is linked to pre-Christian ideas and religions. Since the Madonna and Child resemble ancient Egyptian depictions of Isis and Horus, the dark skin of the Black Madonna may be a reference to the Egyptian origin of the image. Dark-skinned Madonna may also be based on other pre-Christian goddess figures; some Black Madonna shrines are located at the former sites of pagan shrines to goddesses such as Diana. When the Crusaders returned from the Islamic world in the 13th century, they brought back not only a new appreciation of intricate design but also a new respect for the meaning of Isis, the Egyptian goddess whose blackness was associated with the wisdom and life force of matter – the body of the Great Mother.

In ancient Egypt, the Great Mother was depicted as a woman or a crow (RAVEN)