Mother and Child c. 1900 - 1910

James Jebusa Shannon made this painting "Mother and Child" with brushes and probably oil paint, maybe around the turn of the last century. Look at these dark, loose strokes, and tell me it doesn't just pull you right in. I can feel Shannon pushing the paint around, searching. Did he start with the figures or the background? Imagine him building up the dark background to make the figures glow from within. The mother and child remind me of so many other paintings, especially Renaissance images of Mary and Jesus. Maybe Shannon was thinking about those paintings, too. It's interesting to see how artists are always in conversation with each other, even across centuries.