Antique oil painting on canvas depicting the Madonna and Child

Antique oil painting on canvas depicting Madonna and Child, with gilded and carved wooden frame. The Virgin Mary is represented according to classical iconography, holding Jesus in her arms. Jesus and the Madonna, both placed in the foreground, hold a lily in their hands: In his Vallis Liliorum, the German mystic Thomas of Kempis quotes the Song of Songs: “I am the flower and the lily of the valleys”; “This is the word with which Christ addresses his holy Church in general, and more especially to each compassionate soul. Indeed, Christ is the beautiful spouse of the Catholic Church […], the flower of all virtues, the lily of the valleys. [...] whoever therefore wants to serve Christ and please the heavenly husband, try to strip himself of his vices, to gather the lilies of virtue ".