"This painting was painted in the early 1970's when I wanted to paint the traditional Madonna and child. I found that the only honest approach was to paint them of our own time, as the subject is just as relevant today as ever. The figure of the Virgin Mary is based on the Miss World Beauty Queen who had her title removed when it was found she had a child and was unmarried. She maintained the dignity of her motherhood in spite of all the false moral outrage at the time and portrayed a wonderful natural protective attitude to her child. The type of beauty that any shallow competition could never discover."
