In this artwork, how is the Nudity of the Iconography elucidated?
Caravaggio depicted Jesus' as nude because showing his genitals represents the true human body. Caravaggio and Michelangelo believed that depicting him nude lets the viewers know that Jesus came to be represented as a free human nature from the "Adamic contagion of shame," stated by Leo Steinberg. The contagion of shame was physical health and death.
Mary is leaning with her son and her cleavage is showing and she is seen wearing a tight fitted bodice. This iconography of the breast being a tight-fitted bodice came from the medieval period and traditional wear. The symbolism of showing her breast represents Madonna of Mercy’s breast milk. Breast milk is a substance and nutrition that Christ would drink and was seen as a symbol of her role in Co-redemptrix. The breasts of Mary can be compared to Christ’s wounds.
Caravaggio bodice Co-redemptrix.