Why Do Mary’s Breasts Look So Peculiar?

The anatomical strangeness that was meant to uphold her perfection

Madonna and Child (1370s) by Paolo di Giovanni Fei. Tempera on wood, gold ground. 68.6 × 42.9 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, U.S. Image source The Met (public domain)

Back in the 13th century, there was a widely-told story called Les Miracles de Notre Dame in which a “heathen” was said to have witnessed two “well-formed” breasts arising from a painting of the Virgin and spontaneously issuing oil “as from a spring”.

At this remarkable sight, the non-believer was said to have been immediately converted to Christianity. In the context of Medieval Christian worship, Mary’s breasts were becoming an important focus for worship and love.

It was not only in Les Miracles de Notre Dame that Mary’s breasts were revered. Numerous hymns and prayers were dedicated to the Nursing Madonna, as in the 15th century devotional song that describes: “Little breasts of mother Mary / shining like little torches”.

Virgin Mary and Child (1340–50) by Lippo Memmi. Tempera and gold on panel. Image source Wikimedia Commons

The invocation of Mary’s breasts was related to the act of breastfeeding, seen as a symbol of good mothering and nurturing.

During the late Middle Ages, devotional images of Mary breastfeeding the baby Christ, known as Madonna Lactans, grew in popularity as the mother figure of…