Madonna del Parto

This is a Madonna del Parto, a Madonna of childbirth, painted around 1333. The type shows Mary pregnant, carrying Christ before his birth, and in 14th-century Tuscany such images had a very particular use. Expectant women prayed in front of them for a safe delivery, at a time when giving birth was among the most dangerous things a woman did. Painters marked the condition quietly, often with a hand resting on the swelling body or a small closed book held against it, standing for the Word not yet born into the world. Several Florentine painters of Daddi's own generation, among them Taddeo Gaddi and Nardo di Cione, left versions of this same pregnant Virgin for households across the city.