Mother’s Day in Eastern and Western Writings | Love Has a Thousand Forms

How stunning can the depictions of motherly love be in the works of Eastern and Western painters?

In Eastern art, the “Picture of Mencius’ Mother Educating Her Son” depicts the scene with simple and ancient lines, capturing the stern expression and expectant gaze of Mencius’ mother as she breaks the shuttle of the loom, and immortalizing the wisdom of a mother’s words and deeds in the picture.

Thedaylily, known as the “Mother’s Flower” in China, often appears in ancient paintings. It was first mentioned in “The Book of Songs”. Zhu Xi called it “a flower that makes people forget their worries.” Ancient people used the phrase “planting daylilies in the north hall” to express their longing for their mothers. Between the delicate strokes, there flows a tender concern of “wishing mothers no worries.” In the works of Chen Chun from the Ming Dynasty, thedaylilies are depicted with free and easy brushstrokes, and the flowers are gracefully and vividly spread out. Shen Zhou’sdaylily paintings are simple and clear in ink color. Both use brush and ink to express their feelings and fully display their longing for their mothers.

Western painting tends to favor meticulous realism, yet it endows maternal love with vivid warmth in religious themes. Raphael’s “Madonna of the Chair” uses soft light and shadow and a pyramid-like composition to depict the gentle and sacred image of the Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus, integrating religious divinity with maternal tenderness. Caravaggio’s “The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne” employs strong chiaroscuro to vividly portray the Virgin Mary’s devout gaze at the baby, infusing the sacred narrative with a simple human warmth.

Whether it is the reserved and profound style of the East or the intense and unrestrained style of the West, although they are completely different in style and technique, the brushstrokes all incorporate love into lines and colors, either delicately and subtly or passionately and straightforwardly. This collision of cultural and artistic expressions is a common tribute to maternal love by humanity.