Popular Madonnas

I’ve finally created a thesis statement. It is, like everything else, temporary.

I’m positing that the staggering popularity of Luca della Robbia’s terracotta Madonna reliefs arose as an indirect result of the increase in foundling homes, which fostered (no pun intended) a change in the cultural vocabulary regarding women, motherhood, and infants, as well as a growing devotion to Mary.

And, yes, I did choose this in part because the stuff’s so pretty.