The Virgin of the Annunciation: A Paradigm of Humility in Medieval Doctrine and Imagery
José María SALVADOR GONZÁLEZ
Original title: La Virgen de la Anunciación, un paradigma de humildad en la doctrina y la imagen de la Edad Media
Published in Emotions in the Ancient and Medieval Mediterranean World
Keywords: Annunciation, Humility, Iconography, Medieval Art, Patrology.
In recounting the event of the Annunciation, the Gospel of Luke describes the sublime lesson of humility given by the Virgin Mary by proclaiming herself the Lord’s slave while she received the announcement of her election as Mother of God. Such a moral stance soon became an outstanding example of modesty and obedience for all Christians, as it was showed by many Church Fathers, theologians and religious thinkers throughout the centuries. Our paper aims to highlight that this significant lesson of humility and submission by the Virgin, reported by the Gospel and frequently interpreted in patristics and theological sources, often reflected also in art works, as we try to put evident through the analysis of twelve medieval paintings.
The iconography of the Virgin Mary’s Assumption in the Italian Quattrocento’s painting from the prospective of its patristic and theological sources
José María SALVADOR GONZÁLEZ
Original title: La iconografía de La Asunción de la Virgen María en la pintura del Quattrocento italiano a la luz de sus fuentes patrísticas y teológicas
Published in Paradise, Purgatory and Hell: the Religiosity in the Middle Ages
Keywords: Assomption, Iconography, Medieval Art, Patrology, Quattrocento.
The iconographic subject of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary to the heaven is based on a certain oral tradition and on some apocryphal writings, as well on a lot of homilies and interpretations of several Church Fathers and Doctors, such as John of Thessalonica, Saint John of Damascus and Saint Andrew of Crete, and a great number of other medieval theologians. All those literary sources, apocryphal and canonical, constitute the conceptual basis on which the Church has based the liturgical feasts and the iconography of the Death and the Assumption of the Mother of God. The iconography of the Mary’s Death, widely expressed in the Byzantine art since the 11th century, will begin to acquire some relevance in Europe since the 12th century, associating the Virgin’s triumph to the one of Jesus Christ in three characteristic subjects: the Death, the Assumption and the Coronation of Mary. Through the analysis of nine Italian paintings of the Quattrocento, our paper aims to show that such patristic and theological sources constitute the conceptual “model” that inspires in a direct and essential way the medieval iconography of Mary’s Assumption.
