Popular in Italy in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, images of the Blessed Virgin Mary in mosaics, wood or marble carvings, and paintings were framed and placed in niches of exterior walls of homes, churches, and commercial buildings. often mounted upon shelves with room for a candle or lantern and flowers, the Madonnelles, as they were called, were occasionally covered with small metal canopies to protect them in inclement weather. Some even become associated with healings and other types of miracles.

Catholic piety and its emphasis on Mother Mary continued to be strong during the eighteenth century, and not just in Italy. In Europe and elsewhere during that period, there was increasing interest in Methodism and Protestant beliefs. Incidents of witch hunts in the late Middle Ages, and persecutions of women in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, finally began to subside. Some refer to the era as The Great Awakening, and others have called it the Age of Reason. Women could and did join Catholic religious orders, not necessarily to escape the domestic life that obliged them to marry and bear children, but to dedicate their lives to the work of the Church and service to others. A renewed enthusiasm for religion produced a religious revival throughout the United Kingdom and the United States.

In 1785, the English poet, engraver, and artist William Blake created “Job, His Wife, and His Friends: The Complaint of Job” in pen and ink and wash. His image of Job's wife is one of a befuddled woman sitting at her husband's side, hands over her knees with fingers interlocked. She hunches over as though she can't quite understand his quandary and suffering, and has no idea what to do about it. Blake painted other biblical characters as well, in a style that was not appreciated as much in his lifetime as it was after his death. He portrayed other biblical women in his work as well: Bathsheba in “Bathsheba at the Bath,” and Eve in “Angel of the Divine Presence Clothing Adam and Eve” and “The Body of Abel Found by Adam and Eve.”