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The Virgin Mary in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: Devotion and Iconography

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A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444). This special issue belongs to the section "Religions and Humanities/Philosophies".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2023) | Viewed by 42054

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Prof. Dr. José María Salvador-González

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Department of Art History, Complutense University of Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Interests: religious studies; Christianity; Mariology; iconography; medieval studies; intellectual history; social history
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

You are kindly invited to submit your articles to this Special Issue.

This Special Issue will explore some of the various ways in which the Virgin Mary was venerated and represented within Christianity during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. During that long millennium, the figure of Mary acquired an increasingly relevant role among Christians as virginal Mother of God the Son, perpetual Virgin, Queen of Heaven, and helper and mediator between God and men, especially in the Last Judgment. Based, above all, on the Christological and Mariological dogmas established by the Church in the successive Ecumenical Councils of Nicaea I (325), Ephesus (431), Chalcedon (451) and Constantinople II (553), the cult of the Virgin was rapidly consolidated in Christianity, expressing itself in a varied panoply of Marian dedications, numerous religious festivals, a multitude of hymns, prayers and liturgical services in her honor, as well as in an endearing popular devotion to the "Mother of God and our mother". All these experiential manifestations were translated, in turn, into a wide corpus of artistic, pictorial and sculptural images, which sought to make visible that protagonism of Mary in the lives of the faithful.

There are countless academic studies that deal separately with one or another of these expressions toward the Virgin. In this sense, the fundamental purpose of this monographic Special Issue of Religions is to try to gather several specialists from various academic fields and combine their contributions on this subject from a multidisciplinary and transversal perspective.

In this way, scholars of history, Mariology, theology, philosophy, arts and humanities, iconography, sociology and other branches of knowledge will contribute to shaping a book with a polyhedral and multifocal approach that aspires to provide a useful supplement to the existing literature.

Prof. Dr. José María Salvador-González
Guest Editor

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Keywords

Christianity
theology
Mariology
Church history
culture
society
popular devotion
religious experience
liturgy
liturgical hymns
iconography
religious music
medieval studies
Renaissance

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Published Papers (13 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 11309 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Living Images and Marian Devotion: Words, Gestures, and Gazes

by Fuensanta Murcia Nicolás

Religions 2023, 14(5), 623; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14050623 - 6 May 2023

Viewed by 1972

Abstract

This article examines the living images of the Virgin through the illustration of one of the most important collections of miracles of the 13th century, Les Miracles de Nostre Dame by Gautier de Coinci. In this case, I will focus my attention on manuscript 551 of Besançon (Besançon, BM, MS 551), which, although it has many flaws in its manufacture, offers an interesting presentation of living images. The study of these miniatures reflects the importance of devotion, the set of gestures, words, and gazes, in the medieval spectator’s experience of Marian images. At a time when these images’ legitimacy as sacred objects was still being debated, the artists in this manuscript show their power without censorship, presenting them as if they were the Virgin herself. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Virgin Mary in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: Devotion and Iconography)

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23 pages, 7791 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Nursing Madonna in the Middle Ages: An Interdisciplinary Study

by María Elvira Mocholí Martínez

Religions 2023, 14(5), 568; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14050568 - 23 Apr 2023

Viewed by 4278

Abstract

Because of the transgression of the first woman Eve, all medieval women bore the punishment, including the biological consequences related to pregnancy and birth. This affected the entire female gender, according to Judeo-Christian tradition. Although Mary was able to avoid some biological consequences, this was not the case with breastfeeding. This work aims to study sacred images—and especially those of the Nursing Mary—from an interdisciplinary point of view, by delving into rather unconventional sources such as medical treatises, whose perception of the female body may have influenced the creation and reception of certain iconographic types of the Virgin. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Virgin Mary in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: Devotion and Iconography)

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9 pages, 246 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Lucretia as a Figure of Mary in Machiavelli’s Mandragola

by Gaetano Lettieri

Religions 2023, 14(4), 526; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14040526 - 12 Apr 2023

Viewed by 1648

Abstract

When studied in political and ideological contexts, the numerous references to the Virgin Mary in Machiavelli’s comedic masterpiece Mandragola enable us to see how the author not only parodies a sacred play, but also deftly repurposes Christological and Mariological symbolism to celebrate his [...] Read more.

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Virgin Mary in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: Devotion and Iconography)

22 pages, 25011 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Medieval Apparition of the Virgin of the Girdle and the Marian Appendix of Liturgical Sequences in E-TO 135

by Patricia Peláez Bilbao and Arturo Tello Ruiz-Pérez

Religions 2023, 14(4), 501; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14040501 - 5 Apr 2023

Viewed by 3153

Abstract

Based on the fervor and devotion of the Virgin of the Girdle of Tortosa—which gained a strong establishment from the 17th century onwards—this article explores the possibility of a cause-effect relationship between the apparition of the Virgin in the cathedral in 1178 and the Marian appendix contained in the troper-proser E-TO 135 (c. 1228–1264). By comparing the narration of the miracle and the sequences in this appendix, we can verify the existence of an early and incipient veneration—both inside and outside the walls of the cathedral—that would predate what was previously believed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Virgin Mary in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: Devotion and Iconography)

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27 pages, 20027 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Mandorla Symbol in Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Iconography of the Dormition: Function and Meaning

by Rostislava Georgieva Todorova

Religions 2023, 14(4), 473; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14040473 - 2 Apr 2023

Viewed by 3610

Abstract

The present study examines the use of the mandorla symbol in Byzantine and post-Byzantine iconography of the Dormition. The research aims to outline the reasons for the adoption of the mandorla in the iconographic scheme of the subject as a means of visualizing the heavenly Eden and the Glory of God’s presence. It traces the main stages in the development of the Dormition iconography and the creation of its principal models, highlighting the diversity of the patterns in the post-Byzantine art in the Balkans. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Virgin Mary in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: Devotion and Iconography)

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16 pages, 1838 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mary’s Transparent Beauty in St. Bernard’s Aesthetics

by Adrián Pradier

Religions 2023, 14(4), 471; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14040471 - 2 Apr 2023

Viewed by 1789

Abstract

The subject of the beauty of the Virgin Mary was a delicate one in medieval aesthetic thought. Halfway between the sacred and the profane, the theological and the anthropological, the question of Mary’s beauty opened up a strictly material dimension of appreciation that could generate problems related to decorum. However, the progressive humanization of Marian images from the thirteenth century onwards invites us to wonder if there was not, after all, a way to balance or, better, to sublimate the immaterial beauty of Mary, Mother of God, and material beauty of Mary, the young virgin of Nazareth. Taking as our leitmotiv a fictional scene from Umberto Eco’s novel The Name of the Rose, we will analyze St. Bernard’s position on this issue, because he was particularly influential on this matter in his own time and later, since his work brings together not only Marian concerns of deep theological depth, but also aesthetic questions that can contribute to clarifying this question. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Virgin Mary in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: Devotion and Iconography)

11 pages, 1655 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mater dolorosa—Martin Luther’s Image of Mary of Nazareth: An Example in Lucas Cranach the Elder

by Pablo Blanco-Sarto

Religions 2023, 14(3), 353; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14030353 - 7 Mar 2023

Viewed by 1763

Abstract

Protestantism is usually thought of as rejecting the figure of Mary as a collaborator in Christ’s redemption. In Luther’s commentary on the Magnificat (1521), we can see that this doctrine would continue to evolve throughout his life, and would not always be free of apparent ambiguities. Luther extolled the figure of Mary, but at the same time he could not avoid reinterpreting her according to the presuppositions of the doctrine of justification and his theology of the Cross, and he understands the figure of Mary as a Mater dolorosa, as one who participates in a special way in the sorrow of her Son. Her union with the Saviour means she shares his pain. In these lines, we intend to look at the main points proposed by the German reformer in his new perspective on Mariology, and the possible influence of this change in spirituality on painting, for example, in The Crucifixion (1532) by Luther’s personal friend Lucas Cranach the Elder, and we propose a comparison with The Lamentation of Christ (1502), painted before the Reformation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Virgin Mary in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: Devotion and Iconography)

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21 pages, 3463 KiB

Open AccessArticle

“O Jewel Resplendent”: The Virgin Mary and Her Analogues in Hildegard of Bingen’s Scivias

by Nathaniel M. Campbell

Religions 2023, 14(3), 342; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14030342 - 4 Mar 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 4974

Abstract

Despite the lush visual imagery of the twenty-six visions that form the foundation of Hildegard of Bingen’s first work, Scivias, the physical person of the Virgin Mary appears only once, as the Queen of the heavenly symphony in the book’s final vision. The images that coalesce in the musical compositions dedicated to the Virgin in that final symphony, however, resonate throughout the rest of the work, revealing Mary’s constant background presence. Moreover, analogues of traditional Marian imagery in both the text and the illustrations Hildegard designed for the work allow us to see how the Virgin exemplifies the life of the virtues from which Hildegard constructs the City of God. Finally, connections between Scivias and Hildegard’s third work, Liber diuinorum operum, demonstrate that the Virgin Mary models the path of virginity that Hildegard holds up as the singular road to holy perfection for herself and the nuns under her care. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Virgin Mary in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: Devotion and Iconography)

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25 pages, 6501 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Hortus Conclusus—A Mariological Metaphor in Some Renaissance Paintings of the Annunciation in the Light of Medieval Liturgical Hymns

by José María Salvador-González

Religions 2023, 14(1), 36; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14010036 - 26 Dec 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3966

Abstract

This article seeks to shed light on the doctrinal meanings of the closed garden included in some Renaissance paintings of the Annunciation. To justify the iconographic interpretations that we will give of these paintings, we will base them on the analysis of many medieval liturgical hymns that poetically designate the Virgin Mary through the metaphorical expression hortus conclusus (closed garden) with which the Husband or Bridegroom requisites the Wife or Bride in the Song of Songs. We will divide our article into two parts as a strategy for analysis. First, we will analyze an extensive series of fragments of liturgical hymns that repeatedly praise Mary through this biblical metaphor. In the second part, we will examine some artistic representations of the Annunciation that, in the Italian Renaissance, depict a closed garden in the scene. From this double comparative analysis, textual and iconic, we will conclude that, in direct and essential correlation, those hymnic texts and those paintings clearly illustrate that the hortus conclusus is an eloquent symbol of the virginal divine motherhood of Mary and her perpetual virginity, as well as the excellence and fullness of her supernatural virtues and privileges. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Virgin Mary in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: Devotion and Iconography)

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22 pages, 13785 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Virgin Mary and Sainte-Foy: Chant and the Original Design of the West Façade at Conques

by Bissera V. Pentcheva

Religions 2022, 13(12), 1229; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13121229 - 19 Dec 2022

Viewed by 3288

Abstract

Using the evidence of Aquitanian chants, this article explores the possibility that a twelfth-century relief panel of the Annunciation today in the interior of Conques was originally designed for the West facade, where it completes the composition of the divine plan of Salvation. This hypothetic reconstruction also uncovers the important role of the patron saint, Sainte-Foy, and how she is promoted as second after Mary and efficacious intercessor. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Virgin Mary in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: Devotion and Iconography)

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9 pages, 251 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Marian Devotion on the Camino de Santiago during the Middle Ages

by Piotr Roszak and Jesus Tanco Lerga

Religions 2022, 13(12), 1213; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13121213 - 14 Dec 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2006

Abstract

This article presents the theological basis of Marian devotion on the medieval Camino de Santiago and its manifestation in the form of Marian advocacies (Virgen Peregrina, Virgen del Camino). The presence of the cult of the Virgin Mary on the pilgrimage route to Compostela, closely linked to the Jacobean tradition from the very beginning, grows out of the main Mariological trend in the Middle Ages, expressed in the synthesis of Thomas Aquinas. However, a special relationship must be sought in the Mariology of the Hispanic–Mozarabic rite, which created the spiritual climate for the Compostela pilgrimages in the first centuries of their existence. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Virgin Mary in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: Devotion and Iconography)

9 pages, 270 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Eternal Plan of the Father and the Immaculate Conception of the Mother: The Foundations of an Objective Mariology in the Theology of Blessed John Duns Scotus

by Sławomir Jerzy Kunka

Religions 2022, 13(12), 1210; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13121210 - 12 Dec 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1916

Abstract

This article explores selected aspects of the Mariology of Blessed John Duns Scotus, a medieval Franciscan philosopher and theologian. Even though the Subtle Doctor did not develop a theological synthesis as mature as that of St. Thomas Aquinas, his observations continue to provide a relevant source of inspiration for a more in-depth look at Franciscan protological and soteriological concepts. Duns Scotus earned his place in the history of theology as a eulogist of the mystery of the Incarnation and defender of the truth about the Immaculate Conception. In fact, what he had accomplished laid the necessary foundation for the dogmatic ruling on that matter in 1854. The article begins by presenting the scholar’s view of the relation between creation and Redemption from the standpoint of Christ’s perfect mediation. The Marian Doctor was an advocate of emphasizing the objectivity of Redemption, although he himself stopped short of the “threshold” of the mystery of the Father with respect to the Mother of the Son of God, the most perfect Mediator—also for the Virgin Mary. In the end, the Subtle Doctor did not draw all the possible conclusions from his theological vision of creation and salvation history. Next, the article outlines the perspective of God’s eternal plan. Blessed John Duns Scotus’s theology reveals a vision of history in which everything is directed toward the fulfilment of God’s eternal plan: the very plan of which St. Paul wrote very forcefully yet subtly and to which St. John Paul II often referred. The interpretation of that plan is the foundation of an “objective Mariology”. Finally, the author addresses the question of the freedom of both the Creator and His creation from the perspective of the Creator’s plan and in accordance with the Marian Doctor’s assumptions. An analysis of Duns Scotus’s Mariology reveals its depth and innovative character and, at the same time, certain limitations which—in his time—were mentally unsurmountable. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Virgin Mary in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: Devotion and Iconography)

43 pages, 8370 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Vase in Paintings of the Annunciation, a Polyvalent Symbol of the Virgin Mary

by José María Salvador-González

Religions 2022, 13(12), 1188; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13121188 - 5 Dec 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 4944

Abstract

This article tries to highlight the deep doctrinal meanings underlying the vase that is often included in artistic depictions of the Annunciation. This apparently banal everyday object has been deliberately placed there in a prominent position to symbolize the Virgin Mary in her condition as the virginal mother of God the Son, and the bearer of all virtues to the highest degree. As methodological resources to justify our iconographic interpretations of that symbol in these images, our study is based on the analysis of texts by several Church Fathers and medieval theologians, as well as numerous liturgical hymns, which for more than a millennium agreed to designate the Virgin Mary as a “vase”, “vessel”, and other types of containers. Thus, this ancient patristic, theological and hymnographic tradition legitimizes our iconographic interpretation of the “vase” included in fifteen paintings of the Annunciation produced by artists from Italy, Flanders and Spain during the 14th and 15th centuries. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Virgin Mary in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: Devotion and Iconography)

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