India, June 15 -- Hundreds of years ago, when the Lodhi kings were ruling over Delhi, a great artist in Florence painted a picture of a mother and her child. Today, that painting, Madonna and Child by Botticelli, is on a short visit to our city. The painting's subject was common then, as artists had depicted mothers and children for centuries, and it remains common to our day. While the theme is familiar, each such artwork feels slightly different.

This very motherhood sits at the heart of One Mother, Many Mother Tongues, opening next Monday at the Havells Gallery in Central Delhi's Humayun World Heritage Site Museum. The exhibition dwells on a bond that transcends time and place. Spanning 3,000 years, it brings together 25 images of mot...