And I sold her and took my fee….

My Madonna

I haled me a woman from the street,

   Shameless, but, oh, so fair!

I bade her sit in the model’s seat

   And I painted her sitting there.

I hid all trace of her heart unclean;

   I painted a babe at her breast;

I painted her as she might have been

   If the Worst had been the Best.

She laughed at my picture and went away.

   Then came, with a knowing nod,

A connoisseur, and I heard him say;

   “’Tis Mary, the Mother of God.”

So I painted a halo round her hair,

   And I sold her and took my fee,

And she hangs in the church of Saint Hillaire,

   Where you and all may see.

By Robert W. Service

 

 

I have a ‘thing’ about the Virgin Mary and how subversive she can be in the right hands.

Indeed I have a whole thesis built upon  the image of this untouchable, unobtainable and idealised woman. How these images and ideas were and used to keep women in a subservient place in what was and still is, to some extent, an andocentric society.

So every so often I have an urge to try and show how they were and can be subverted and somewhat reclaimed. If you are interested and want to take a look just click on Her below…