Description: Antique oil painting on canvas depicting the Madonna and Sleeping Child with gilded and carved wooden frame. Mary is represented according to classical iconography, that is, intent on reading a book while holding Jesus in her arms. Mary reads, in the full sense of the term: she listens, meditates, memorizes, scrutinizes, understands, prays, agrees, contemplates and thus prepares herself to welcome every message that comes to her from the Word she reads and in the time she reads. In Mary, prophecy and fulfillment overlap and coincide: announcement and reality come together. By her example and her behavior, Mary teaches us how to read. Jesus, book and reader, shows us God