There's Something About Mary

Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac, Adam and Eve's expulsion from the Garden of Eden and Judith's defeat of the Assyrian army may not have much in common. But in Divine Mirrors: The Madonna Unveiled, curated by Melissa Katz at the Davis Museum at Wellesley, they do. The exhibit combines works of art on these subjects with a text rich in Biblical reference and historical detail to show changing perceptions of the Virgin Mary in different cultures over the past nine centuries.

In Katz's show, the artworks serve the text and not the other way around. Some connections she makes are more readily apparent than others. Marc Chagall's hand-colored etching, "Abraham Sacrificing Isaac," is used to describe Mary's obedience and devotion to God through a comparison to Abraham, who was prepared to sacrifice his son in obedience to God's will.

Illustrations of Judith, the warrior princess, serve to emphasize by contrast Mary's role as a mother figure and source of strength to those in need. "Judith and Holofernes," a mid-16th-century oil painting, shows Judith holding the severed head of Holofernes, the general whose army she has just defeated. A marble statue of Eve, created by Auguste Rodin in 1899, shows Eve with arms wrapped around her body and head bent down in shame. Contrast this image of a woman whose weakness instigated the fall of mankind with Mary's role as a redeemer through the birth of Christ.

These parallels and contrasts, when seen in conjunction with works showing Mary calmly accepting Gabriel's news or holding Christ in Il Pontoricchio's 16th-century painting "Madonna and Child with the Infant St. John the Baptist and Saints Andrew and Jerome," illuminate different qualities of the Virgin as portrayed by artists over the centuries.

Other connections between the text and the art are more obscure. Most modern-day viewers have difficulty seeing the anti-Semitic overtones that Katz points out in Michel Wohlgemut's drawing of Christ's circumcision, as shown by a look at the puzzled comments left by visitors. Likewise, the fact that Mary's Assumption into heaven is not part of Protestant belief says little about Pedro Gonzalez Berruguete's depiction of her ascent.

The categories Annunciation, Nativity, Adoration, Holy Family, Passion, Veneration and Coronation, based on the eight-part prayer cycle known as the Hours of the Virgin, provide a good thematic framework for arranging the paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, manuscripts and mixed-media artifacts, mostly drawn from the museum's permanent collection. Less successful is the semi-transparent veil of cloth which enshrines several sculptures and paintings in the center of the room. Creating the illusion of a chapel is an original idea, but out of context in the setting of a museum.

Divine Mirrors concludes with a look at representations of Mary in the 20th century. Gertrude Tiske's "Portrait of Mary" (1920) depicts a young woman with red braids in a yellow dress and checkered apron. The portrayal of Mary as an ordinary woman provides a stark contrast to the exalted portraits of earlier centuries, which showed Mary as saint, regal queen or grieving mother. Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, an artist living in Boston, gives a striking interpretation of the Holy Family in eight photographs of a mother and father embracing their son in turn. Only the child is visible; the parents' faces remain hidden from the camera.

Such an enormous array of historical, religious and artistic cross-references poses a challenge to the viewer expecting to come away with a clear sense of how Mary has been portrayed over time. A recognition of the subtle connections between the artwork and the text as well as an appreciation of the art on its own terms is well worth the effort. Don't expect to digest this exhibit in one visit.

Divine Mirrors: The Madonna Unveiled is on view through July 9 at the Davis Museum, 106 Central St. in Wellesley. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday, Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday and 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday.