Since the earliest humans began chipping away at stones or applying pigment to walls to capture images from their world, they have depicted the maternal figure. From the fertility sculptures of the Paleolithic era to depictions of Gaia, the Earth Mother, in ancient Greece to the countless paintings of the Madonna and Child, representations of mothers, both symbolic and actual, have been one of the most popular subjects in art.

The stunning collection of over two hundred artworks pictured in this lovely book ranges from antiquity to the present and includes vases, sculptures, illuminated manuscripts, and paintings. The illustrations are paired with insightful, moving, and humorous quotations by a range of literary and public figures such as Plutarch, Dante, Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, Sigmund Freud, and Mae West. Together, these words and pictures offer a fitting tribute to mothers—all that they are and all that they do.

Marta Alvarez González is a freelance art historian living in Italy. She is the author of Il Dizionario dell'arte: Le Donne (Mondadori Electa, 2009).

Price: $18.95