Not a painting but a small terracotta statue The Virgin with the Laughing Child sits in the corner of a far gallery in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. It is remarkable because of its life-like immediacy, The sketch like qualities of the terracotta are far more approachable than solid finished marble statue might be. The pose seems so real and the baby is actually laughing........ And that baby is God. It also turns out that it has recently been the subject of heated discussions about attribution. Traditionally said to be by Rossellino some academics, led by one Francesco Caglioti, now say it could be a very early work by Leonardo da Vinci, made when he was about 20 and the pupil of the Florentine artist Andrea del Verrocchio. One of the reasons for this possible new attribution is “the face of the baby Christ and his realistic, well-observed pose. He looks alive. That same attention to young children’s actual behaviour can be seen in Leonardo’s drawings. Yet portraying a laughing Christ in the 15th century was not only radical, but practically blasphemous.” (The Guardian , article by Jonathan Jones 9 Mar 2019 Fascinating though this debate may be, it is the power of the image that matters. it suggests an amazing answer to the question posed by AW Tozer who wrote “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us” Does a laughing baby feature in our thoughts? God not just as great mysterious Father but also as a baby, learning to smile and laugh and sit comfortably on his Mother’s knee. Is that possible? Is that who God is?
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