The immediate inspiration for this work was a wooden medieval German sculpture of Saint Anne (the Virgin Mary’s mother) which I saw in the Metropolitan Museum of New York several years ago. She stood there, imposing & solid, holding a gigantic open book in one hand as she supported her daughter Mary with her other arm. Mary was a fully grown woman, though of diminutive size, and she held the baby Jesus on her lap. Originally I thought that I would sculpt a traditional Madonna & child as part of this series, but that image of Saint Anne was so vivid and stayed on my mind, so eventually I started this sculpture of her instead.

I believe that this sculpture of Saint Anne with Mary & the Christ Child is actually a version of what was probably the original trinity: a matriarch with her daughter (a young mother) and her small child. Many of the saints of earlier Christian times were obviously designed to "take over" from more ancient divinities, gods and goddesses of religions which had supposedly been driven out, but were actually forced underground; I feel sure that Saint Anne is one of those (as is Mary, in some respects). The book she holds symbolizes wisdom and knowledge, and it is open because she wants to share it with the world. Saint Anne herself holds all knowledge, including that of the ultimate sacrifice of her beloved grandchild, and she holds it calmly and compassionately.