13/09/2026
Intriguing symbols in Botticelli's Mother & Child
"Thousands are heading off to see the Madonna at NGMA Bangalore. And you would have witnessed a beautifully painted tempera-oil on wood.
Beautiful technique, but the painting itself... Does not appear to be the greatest Mother & Child rendition...
"For the mother is deep in meditation, barely interested in the child, her arms and hands are little more than cut out, the child does not rest on them but floats above them. And the child looks not at the mother or viewer, but almost anxiously to its left.
So should we walk away, abandon the painting? For in the show 'One Mother, Many Mother tongues' there are several stunning pieces. With a more emotive & energetic intensity.
"No. Do both. Feast on the others.
And delve deep into this one.
"Why?
Shall we give you a clue?
"For did you notice the dark mark on the right shoulder of the cloak of the mother?
"Ok, what is that?
"Those from an informed Western tradition would say "That is an 8 pointed Marian Symbol. A Stella Martis Star."
"Yup. So?
So, some patron asked for it to be placed in the painting.
"Again so?"
Florence was the very centre of new thought, NeoPlatonic thought. Some that would have been onsidered heretical earlier & later.
"Recall Primavera & Botticelli's celebrated Venus?
"And so, Flowers, stars were more than decoration. But symbol, laden with significance. Florentine Patrons demanded symbols, not just theme. To them Flower, Fruit, Star, Chalice were laden with meaning... Pomegranate was not just fruit. Drinking cup, not just tableware. Rose not flower. Where Flower was not just pretty, but binding circle, and symbol of fecundity, code for Spring, for orgiastic rejoicing.
"Western thought, at that juncture, especially Florence was claiming its earlier Greek-Roman-Byzantine heritage. Looking at a broader canvas, where the Ancient patterns were seen, not hidden by a more immediate religious fervor.
"So, the star is a reference to a circle that commissioned the piece, and significant to them.
"And so we look at the star again, it is dark, almost spiderish... And ask why was it not bright? Artistic choice?
"Maybe? Definitely not!
Only a keen eye can see it. So clearly it was for the select to notice. And for the few to understand.
"Yes, from the 3rd Century the 8 pointed Star was increasingly associated with Marian cults. But pause here. For we need to ask, but was the 8 pointed Star, was it Mary's at all? When did Mary become associated with Stella Martis? Light on the sea???
"As we look deeper into history, we see that the star, and 8 pointed Star was associated with Goddess figures like Inana, Astarte, Isis, Aprodite. The one originally associated with light or star on the sea were other Goddesses. And so one cannot ignore the possibility that as believers shifted from one religion to another, Greek, Roman, Phoenician, Mesopotamian, Egyptian, they carried ancient patterns into newer settings. And as the Florentines lead the renaissance, they embraced Mother in its most ancient terms. And Child, divine in its greatest possibilities.
"We are not arguing Mother Mary is insignificant. Unworthy of veneration. Neither were they. Far from it. The mother from Bethlehem, was not just seen as a chit who bore a divine spark, but one who gathered the full sweep of history, culture, civilization, mankind in her sweep, and so she was also Venus on the waters, she was adored in ancient Egypt & Phoenicia.
"Now if we dig deeper, the dark 8 pointed spoke also represented the web of life, or spider calling in connections of Goddess Arachne, among others.
"So, we are now left with another Mother and Child. From a different garden. Where The Mother also had the dignity of Inana, or Isis. And the child, was the divine promise, heralded as Horus here, messiah there, the redeemer again.
"It was an expansive conception, hidden in acceptable theme.
"In the painting the child is no babe, curled in his mother's arms. Observe: The child turns away from the mother and over his shoulder is worried, or concerned by something beyond. Are they referring to something that will happen in the future?
"A sweeping change? A crucifying set of events? The invasions of Florence? Turbulence as their thoughts sought spread and soil?
"And so in the painting we see the child as active, the mother deep in inner wisdom. And so the painting speaks on, and says 'The Child, born from wisdom, tears himself away from his mother and her contemplation, unshakable peace and looks at a troubling future(?), where he must act.
"But remember, the mother who in contemplation, knows, understands, communes with high reality, she is the hight truth, priestess, connect to the highest of highs. The Child here is looking out. He sees his field of purpose & action.
"But what should the child do? What can the child do? It's infant fingers plays with his mother's necklace or hair?
"Look behind the mother. We can look deeper at the cities, monuments depicted on either side of the mother. The image on the right shows 2 levels, a cathedral on a cliff and a church/city below. So we see 2 levels of life & knowledge. There are 2 panels of monuments or cities. The first is one levelled. Power. The 2nd is bi-levelled. Power & Wisdom.
"Add it up and the painting urges us,(the children), viewer, cult member, or divine one, those who see are commanded to take humanity from city, to knowledgeable city.
"We can look behind at the pillar behind the mother & child, the steps or walls below. Some would see a crucifix. Others would see a heaven-reaching pillar. Architectural or Male Principle, Axis Mundi of Creation?
"The Florentines though very modern, were not modern art patrons. The slap-bang-thank-you-mam variety.
They, especially Botticelli, were symbolists. Marrying message, beauty, political power, and transcendence.
"Hidden in plain sight is this message - 'She who is wisdom, backed by the pillar that defines life. She who takes man from circled fort to heaven-knowing world. She commands the child, her children to look ahead, to see the forces, the crucifixions ahead. And to carry out the great work. The Child of the future is backed by a hidden circle of acolytes, marked by the 8 pointed Star, web or flower, and given the charge to strengthen the web of life.'
"Okay, you may say, so what if a coded message is layered into the art, so what?
"Because whom the message is directed at...
"The painting reveals the acolytes are not lily livered, but red blooded, true blooded, draped in wisdom, connected and yet not fettered by clothes, conventions, niceties. Observe the Mother's clothes, and the babe.
"Please do not mistake Florentine erudition and nuance, for weakness, for lack of spiritual depth, vitality, or will... They were the epicenter of a renaissance that spread. Florentine thought. Thinkers, statesmen, changeleaders spread to Scotland, England, Germany... They believed in beauty, the transcendence of purpose, but they were influential, powerful, even deadly...
"Maybe not in this painting, but other Botticelli's were altar pieces to the modern mind rising up from the mediaeval, from 'horror triggered by Mongol expansion', and how forget, the foetid embrace of black death.
"Merely standing before a Primavera or Venus rising from the waves placed one on a doorway to divinity. Not the one that a dominant stream of spiritual thought perceived as the straight & narrow, but a NeoPlatonic pathway, where desire, beauty, power, life, enlightenment are intertwined.
"Madonna or Isis? Is not the point. Much of our modern freedoms, freedom of thought & action, springs from Florentines, their embrace of great sweeps of existence... And so even this lesser Botticelli is an education. No, understanding the crucible of thought that underpins our world is of significance. Honing the mind to see the real trajectories, the hidden hands beneath our history...
- Tarun Cherian
