here on the same errand, and the inn was
so crowded that the young mother had to find quarters in the stable.

While the child was still very young a terrible danger threatened his
life. An order went forth from King Herod to slay all the young
children of Bethlehem. Still the mother's courage did not fail. She
arose by night, and, taking her babe, fled with her husband into
Egypt. Returning at length to their home in Nazareth, she watched her
boy's growth, and kept all his sayings in her heart.

When Jesus entered upon his ministry Mary was the first to show
perfect confidence in her son.[28] She seems to have followed him
whenever she could.[29] Her courage sustained her even in the hour of
his agony, and we read how she stood with his disciples at the foot of
the cross.[30]

It is this woman of quiet fortitude whom we see in Luca della Robbia's
bas-relief of the Madonna and Child. We are impressed at once with a
sense of her strength and poise of character. It is precisely such as
fits the story of her life. Steadying her little boy with both hands,
she turns her face in the direction in which he is looking. The Child
seems to stand on a sort of balustrade in front of his mother. With
feet wide apart he holds himself erect in a firm posture. His right
hand is raised in a gesture of benediction. With his left he grasps
firmly a long scroll bearing the Latin inscription, "Ego sum Lux
Mundi" (I am the Light of the World).

Both mother and child seem to belong to the happy, every-day working
world. Mary has the straight figure, full throat, and square shoulders
of a Tuscan peasant girl. Her only aristocratic feature is the shapely
hand. She holds her chin level, like a country maiden used to carrying
burdens on the head. It may be that the artist had seen her like in
some market-place in Florence. The boy too has the square shoulders
and sturdy frame of a child of the people.

[Illustration: MADONNA AND CHILD (LUCA DELLA ROBBIA) _Shop in the Via
dell' Agnolo, Florence_]

Some artists have tried to give a supernatural and ethereal beauty to
the mother and child. Others have represented them enthroned in
splendor like a queen and prince receiving their court. Luca della
Robbia went to no such extremes. There is nothing morbid or
sentimental in his art: nor does he care for any worldly pomp and
ceremonial. His religious ideals were very simple, suited to the needs
of common life. The Christ child here is a dear littl