nieuwenhove

FOR "A VIRGIN WITH CHILD" BY MICHELANGELO

Mystery: God, man's life, born into man
Of woman. There abideth on her brow
The ended pang of knowledge, the which now
Is calm assured. Since first her task began
She hath known all. What sterner anguish than
She oft hath suffered, who for many a space
Of nights and days hath wept upon her face
While like a heavy flood the darkness ran?
All hath been told her touching her dear son,
And all shall be accomplished. Where he sits
Even now, a babe, he holds the symbol fruit
Perfect and chosen. Until God permits,
His soul's elect still have the absolute
Harsh nether darkness, & make painful moan.

There is a little controversy about this poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti which, in a subtitle, he dedicated to a painting by Michelangelo that he saw on a visit to Bruges.

However, the only work by Michelangelo in the Flemish city is his famous sculpture of The Madonna.

madonna

It is thought that Rossetti made a mistake in his recollection of the work that inspired his poem and he should have referred to the painting I have shown above, which is also in Bruges, but was painted by the the German-born painter Hans Memling (Memlinc).