The scene depicts a mother, a reinterpretation of the Madonna, breastfeeding her child, surrounded by angels; the figures stand out against a green meadow, on which grows a luxuriant tree filled with light (a reference to the Tree of Life). Unlike many other Lombard painters of his time, Gaetano Previati embraced Divisionism out of a need to convey an idea through the physical study of matter, rather than starting from direct observation of reality; the lyricism and the vibrations inherent in the pictorial medium were meant to serve the sensations he intended to communicate in his works: for this reason, he employed pure, divided colours, arranged in filaments of adjacent hues following a sinuous rhythm, intended to convey the fluctuating nature of the inner concept. This fundamental artwork, therefore, represents a turning point in the artist's career and a manifesto of the new Divisionist painting: in a letter to his brother, written in 1890, he declared his intention to depict in painting "all the intensity of maternal love stripped of the trinkets that have served for a thousand paintings". Thus the artist conceived Maternity, in which the traditional sacred representation gives way to a simpler depiction: the relationship between mother and child unfolds in a dimension of affection and tenderness, emphasized by the choice of warm, pure colours that create an atmosphere of tranquillity, while the unreal luminosity, enveloping the Madonna breastfeeding the Child and surrounded by a host of adoring angels, lends a mystical dimension to the scene. However, precisely for this reason, critics responded negatively to the work, judging it unsuitable for exhibition; indeed, because of the manner in which it was executed, the painting appealed to very few people: a scene that approaches, though not explicitly, a religious dimension, traversed by a myriad of broad brushstrokes that make the entire space vibrate.
A young mother sits on the left, leaning against a small orange tree, cradling and nursing her baby. She’s wrapped in a white veil and a blue dress. Angles with big wings and white robes are surrounding her , including three of them resting with their heads on their hands, one turned away as if asleep, and another slumped over a tomb covered in grass, looking almost broken with grief. The whole scene is set outdoors, with white lilies and anemones growing near her feet.Previati painted this as his own quiet, non-religious take on the old Madonna and Child theme. The white veil and the lilies still point to Mary’s purity, but the anemones carry a heavier meaning. They fade fast, which is Previati’s way of hinting at how short Christ’s life would be, and the red ones are tied to his blood after the crucifixion. At the first Brera Triennale (1891), his work was displayed and it caused a real stir. That was actually the first time Symbolism showed up in official Italian art, and some critics even accused him of not knowing how to draw properly.
