Painting for the Seventh Day of Christmas

This Madonna and Child is by Lucius Cranach the Elder, and was painted around the time Martin Luther was shaking up the religious establishment and starting the Protestant religion. Cranach the Elder was principally a portrait painter, and painted Luther's entire family.

Are you impressed that I have managed to say nothing political during Christmas? In the wake of the Roland Burris appointment by Governor Blagojevich and the announcement by Jesse White that he will not certify the appointment, I suppose I should call upon all citizens of Illinois to speak out against the national press characterizing Illinois as dealing in race based politics . That simply isn't the case. What they are seeing is Illinois Democrats at work, and that the political process is working. I will continue to defend my fellow citizens of Illinois, and continue to assert that our state moved beyond considerations of race long ago. I would like to make one thing perfectly clear: our politicians might be crooked, but they are not bigots.