Mary Cassatt, the nineteenth century impressionist, is well known for her paintings of women and children. Mary never married nor had children of her own because early on she decided that marriage would interfere with her desire to have a career as an artist. Despite never having her own children, Cassatt, was a master at capturing the connection between children and the women who cared for them. Whether she paints a woman holding a tired child or a mother bathing her child before bed, she is able to capture caring moments that may have rarely been witnessed by her male contemporaries.
Sketch of Ann and Her Nurse, an oil on canvas painted in 1897, reminds me of the feminine and motherly images of God. I think of Julia of Norwich. Julia lived in fourteenth century England. After a near death experience at the age of thirty, she experienced several visions of Christ. In her writing she uses a variety of images for Christ, one of which is that of a loving mother who desires to hold us . In her book, Holy Listening, Margaret Guenther writes the following about Julia’s writings:
Julian of Norwich likens the errant soul to a headstrong toddler who must be free to
run and explore her little world if she is to grow to maturity, but who inevitably falls, tearing her clothing and becoming hurt and dirty. This homely engaging picture of the sinner, crying out--as Julian puts it—not to a God of punishment but to a loving mother Christ. The loving mother picks up the toddler, cleans, and comforts it, then holds it close.
Julian’s image of us is that of toddlers who fall, get dirty, cry out, and can count on a loving and forgiving mother-God to pick us up and brush us off. You may think that this mother would then confine the child in an enclosure where she would stay clean and safe. No, this mother sets her daughter back out on her way to walk, explore, and some day learn to run, knowing that she will fall again. If the child never is allowed to walk away, she will never learn to run.
Ann and Her Nurse captures this moment when a toddler who has been out exploring the world—falling, getting dirty, getting tired—seeks comfort and renewal in the arms of her nurse. There is the harsh darkness and colors of the world in the background but at this moment this child seeks what she needs in the softness of her nurse’s lap and bosom.
The image of a mothering God has great potential to help us understand the divine. Ann’s nurse simultaneously displays strength and caring. She can lift up and completely engulf the child. At the same time, she is able to caress and comfort her. When the child is filthy, she will bath her. She will teach her what she needs to know to face the world at various times in her life. Ann’s nurse’s very existence revolves around the needs of the girl in her arms. Ann’s nurse will reprimand her when her actions are out of line and she will set boundaries based on Ann’s growth and maturity, and ability to handle the world she seeks to explore.
We can also see the images of God as the feminine and motherly in Isaiah. The people of Israel have gone to exile in Babylon and have returned to Jerusalem to rebuild their lives, their city, and their temple. When speaking of the people of Israel and the restoration of Jerusalem, Isaiah says:
For thus says the Lord: I will extend prosperity to her like a river, and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you shall nurse and be carried on her arm, and dandle on her knee. As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. (Isaiah 66:12-13)
Here again, when God’s children need respite and renewal, when they have been out and fallen in the world, God is seen as a mother there to comfort, clean up, and send out the child to try again.
Mary Cassatt’s work captures these moments of comfort and caring in her impressionist style. This style allows us to focus on the emotion of the moment found in the gentle grasp of the child. We are moved by the contrasting colors of dark backgrounds and light subjects; the soft nurse’s lap and harsh world that surround them.
The painting, Ann and Her Nurse, is on display art the Portland Museum of Art in Portland Maine.
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