Powerfully serene, the loving gaze of the Madonna is steadfast and unconditionally loving. The child sleeps serenely centered amid the vibrant garden patterns. The sterling silver corona is incised with a floral pattern that continues into the aura around her turquoise mosaic halo. The stylized shapes of tile mosaic become both cloak and background.
I grew up with about the Black Madonna, Our Lady of Czestochowa, that my Polish/Russian-American grandmother would tell me. She said that during a siege upon the church, the warring soldiers burned the church and the Madonna. But the Madonna only blackened and did not burn. She emerged whole, yet changed to a beautiful brown color. When I was very young, my grandmother would vary the story and say that the Madonna climbed into a nearby tree, but that version stopped around the time I quit believing in Santa Claus. Though my grandmother never said anything, I wonder if the story of The Black Madonna of Czestochowa wasn't her way to explain/create a connection between us. She had very light skin and red hair, a stark contrast to her Hispanic grandchildren's coloring. This story from her Polish heritage of a Madonna whose skin darkened created a connection in my very visual thinking style that made sense of my world.