this time, the subject has been unrivalled in popularity. It requires
no very profound philosophy to discover the reason for this. The
Madonna is the universal type of motherhood, a subject which, in its
very nature, appeals to all classes and conditions of people. No one
is too ignorant to understand it, and none too wise to be superior to
its charm. The little child appreciates it as readily as the old man,
and both, alike, are drawn to it by an irresistible attraction. Thus,
century after century, the artist has poured out his soul in this
all-prevailing theme of mother love until we have an accumulation of
Madonna pictures so great that no one would dare to estimate their
number. It would seem that every conceivable type was long since
exhausted; but the end is not yet. So long as we have mothers, art
will continue to produce Madonnas.

With so much available material, the student of Madonna art would be
discouraged at the outset were it not possible to approach the subject
systematically. Even the vast number of Madonna pictures becomes
manageable when studied by some method of classification. Several
plans are possible. The historical student is naturally guided in his
grouping by the periods in which the pictures were produced; the
critic, by the technical schools which they represent. Besides these
more scholarly methods, are others, founded on simpler and more
obvious dividing lines. Such are the two proposed in the following
pages, forming, respectively, Part I. and Part II. of our little
volume.

The first is based on the style of composition in which the picture is
painted; the second, on the subject which it treats. The first
examines the mechanical arrangement of the figures; the second asks,
what is the real relation between them? The first deals with external