Karolina Danek was a Polish émigré to Maine who infused her artworks with devotion. Danek embellished this Madonna and Child with colorful craft jewels, producing a result akin to the religious icons of her native country. She may have been influenced by the ancient Polish tradition of adorning the revered Black Madonna of Częstochowa in robes covered with precious stones. Here the Virgin holds Jesus up in one arm, indicating him to be “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”