The Virgin Mary and her mother, Anne, were the most popular female saints in Brazil throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The devotion to this "the glorious matriarch"is, indeed, a reflection of the marian cult. Anne even came to be associated with some of the virtues of the Mother of Christ. Three types of artistic representations highlight this association by portraying Anne as mother, guide and, moreover, mistress. This paper proposes an interpretation of these iconographic types in light of both catholic thought and the social context of Minas Gerais. This region harbored the greatest art center of Portuguese America in the XVIIIth century and sculptures of Saint Anne were prominent in most parishes and chapels there. They became cult images for individuals and various groups. The aim of this research is to understand the meaning of these images that are not rooted in any scriptural passage; they are, rather, a cultural portrayal of the roles assigned to motherhood.