Lent - Day Sixteen

Virgio Lactans, by Jean Fouquet,
right wing of the Melun Diptych, 
Royal Museum of Antwerp

"You will drink the milk of nations and be nursed at royal breasts. Then you will know that I, the Lord, am your Saviour, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob." Isaiah 60 verse 16

Traditionally, Royals used wetnurses to feed their babies.  A royal breast is rather special.  

Until the Council of Trent in the mid sixteenth century (which disapproved of the nudity), 'Madonna del Latte' was an understood motif in religious art.  Milk was seen as a close relation to blood, and the picture signified that just as Christ was dependent on his mother for sustenance and survival, we too depend on imbibing Jesus' blood to 'live'.

Question:  Am I aware that my life is sustained everyday by the Lord?

Prayer: I honour you for the life you give, and cherish it daily.

What about the left wing of the Diptych?  Well, the two wing, originally created for Collegiate Church of  Notre Dame in Melun, south east of Paris,  were separated and the portrait of the patron with St Steven can be seen in Berlin at the Saatliche Museen.

Étienne Chevalier,
the treasurer to King Charles VII of France