Madonna of the Little Bird 1904

Timothy Cole made this small print, Madonna of the Little Bird, using wood engraving. Look closely, you can see how he built up the image using lots and lots of tiny marks. This feels similar to painting, right? You start with an idea, and then you slowly build it up, making marks, erasing, adding, until finally you have a finished piece. The texture is intriguing, it's so smooth, like velvet, yet somehow also rough and granular. I'm drawn to the folds of Mary's skirt, how the lines converge and diverge. See how they create these rhythmic patterns that pull your eye in and around the composition? Then there’s the softness of the baby’s skin. It’s all about light, how it falls and creates these subtle gradations. The way the light defines the figures reminds me a bit of Renaissance painting. That little bird is everything, though. It's such a small thing, but it brings the whole piece to life. It reminds us that art is a conversation, that ideas get passed around and transformed over time. It also demonstrates how a single mark can change everything.