of the enthroned Virgin and Child with saints
George,
Theodore and angels, 6th century,
Saint Catherine's Monastery. Mary's status as the
Mother of God was not made clear in the Gospels and Pauline Epistles but the theological implications of this were defined and confirmed by the
Council of Ephesus (431). Different aspects of Mary's position as mother have been the subject of a large number of works of Catholic art. There was a great expansion of the
cult of Mary after the Council of Ephesus in 431, when her status as
Theotokos was confirmed; this had been a subject of some controversy until then, though mainly for reasons to do with
arguments over the nature of Christ. In
mosaics in
Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, dating from 432 to 40, just after the council, she is not yet shown with a
halo, and she is also not shown in Nativity scenes at this date, though she is included in the
Adoration of the Magi. By the next century the iconic depiction of the Virgin enthroned carrying the infant Christ was established, as in the example from the only group of icons surviving from this period, at
Saint Catherine's Monastery in
Egypt. This type of depiction, with subtly changing differences of emphasis, has remained the mainstay of depictions of Mary to the present day. The image at Mount Sinai succeeds in combining two aspects of Mary described in the
Magnificat, her
humility and her
exaltation above other humans. At this period the
iconography of the Nativity was taking
the form, centred on Mary, that it has retained up to the present day in
Eastern Orthodoxy, and on which Western depictions remained based until the
High Middle Ages. Other narrative scenes for Byzantine cycles on the
Life of the Virgin were being evolved, relying on
apocryphal sources to fill in her life before the
Annunciation to Mary. By this time the political and economic collapse of the
Western Roman Empire meant that the Western, Latin, church was unable to compete in the development of such sophisticated
iconography, and relied heavily on Byzantine developments. The earliest surviving image in a Western
illuminated manuscript of the
Madonna and Child comes from the
Book of Kells of about 800 and, though magnificently decorated in the style of
Insular art, the drawing of the figures can only be described as rather crude compared to Byzantine work of the period. This was in fact an unusual inclusion in a
Gospel book, and images of the Virgin were slow to appear in large numbers in manuscript art until the
book of hours was devised in the 13th century.
Nativity of Jesus The
Nativity of Jesus has been a major subject of Christian art since the early 4th century. It has been depicted in many different media, both pictorial and sculptural. Pictorial forms include murals, panel paintings, manuscript illuminations, stained glass windows and oil paintings. The earliest representations of the Nativity itself are very simple, just showing the infant, tightly wrapped, lying near the ground in a trough or wicker basket. A new form of the image, which from the rare early versions seems to have been formulated in 6th-century Palestine, was to set the essential form of Eastern Orthodox images down to the present day. The setting is now a cave – or rather the specific Cave of the Nativity in Bethlehem, already underneath the Church of the Nativity, and well-established as a place of pilgrimage, with the approval of the Church. '' ( 1490) by
Geertgen tot Sint Jans Western artists adopted many of the Byzantine iconographic elements, but preferred the scriptural stable to the cave, though
Duccio's Byzantine-influenced Maestà version tries to have both. During the Gothic period, in the North earlier than in Italy, increasing closeness between mother and child develops, and Mary begins to hold her baby, or he looks over to her. Suckling is very unusual, but is sometimes shown. The image in later medieval Northern Europe was often influenced by the vision of the Nativity of
Saint Bridget of Sweden (1303–1373), a very popular mystic. Shortly before her death, she described a vision of the infant Jesus as lying on the ground, and emitting light himself. From the 15th century onwards, the
Adoration of the Magi increasingly became a more common depiction than the Nativity proper. From the 16th century plain Nativities with just the Holy Family, become a clear minority, although
Caravaggio led a return to a more realistic treatment of the
Adoration of the Shepherds. The perpetual character of Mary's virginity, namely that she was a virgin all her life and not only at her
virginal conception of
Jesus Christ at the Annunciation (that she was a virgin before, during and after giving birth to him) is alluded to in some forms of Nativity art:
Salome, who according to the story in the 2nd-century
Nativity of Mary received physical proof that Mary remained a virgin even in giving birth to Jesus, is found in many depictions of the
Nativity of Jesus in art.
Madonna , 1459 The depiction of the
Madonna has roots in ancient pictorial and sculptural traditions that informed the earliest Christian communities throughout Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East. Important to Italian tradition are Byzantine icons, especially those created in Constantinople (Istanbul), the capital of the longest, enduring medieval civilization whose icons, such as the
Hodegetria, participated in civic life and were celebrated for their miraculous properties. Western depictions remained heavily dependent on Byzantine types until at least the 13th century. In the late Middle Ages, the
Cretan school, under
Venetian rule, was the source of great numbers of icons exported to the West, and the artists there could adapt their style to Western iconography when required. enthroned Madonna,
Santo Domingo de Silos Abbey In the
Romanesque period free-standing statues, typically about half life-size, of the enthroned Madonna and Child were an original Western development, since monumental sculpture was forbidden by Orthodoxy. The
Golden Madonna of Essen of c. 980 is one of the earliest of these, made of gold applied to a wooden core, and still the subject of considerable local veneration, as is the 12th century
Virgin of Montserrat in
Catalonia, a more developed treatment. With the growth of monumental panel painting in Italy during the 12th and 13th centuries, this type was frequently painted at the image of the Madonna gains prominence outside of Rome, especially throughout Tuscany. While members of the mendicant orders of the Franciscan and Dominican Orders are some of the first to commission panels representing this subject matter, such works quickly became popular in monasteries, parish churches, and later homes. Some images of the Madonna were paid for by lay organizations called confraternities, who met to sing praises of the Virgin in chapels found within the newly reconstructed, spacious churches that were sometimes dedicated to her.
Some key Madonnas '' by
Moreno,
hermitage in Warfhuizen, the Netherlands. A number of Madonna paintings and statues have gathered a following as important religious icons and noteworthy works of art in various regions of the world. Some Madonnas are known by a general name and concept rendered or depicted by various artists. For instance,
Our Lady of Sorrows is the patron saint of several countries such as
Slovakia and
Philippines. It is represented as the Virgin Mary wounded by seven swords in her heart, a reference to the prophecy of Simeon at the
Presentation of Jesus.
Our Lady of Sorrows, Queen of Poland located in the
Sanctuary of Our Lady of Licheń (Poland's largest church) is an important icon in Poland. The term
Our Lady of Sorrows is also used in other contexts, without a Madonna, e.g. for
Our Lady of Kibeho apparitions. Some Madonnas become the subject of widespread devotion, and the Marian shrines dedicated to them attract millions of pilgrims per year. An example is
Our Lady of Aparecida in Brazil, whose shrine is surpassed in size only by
Saint Peter's Basilica in
Vatican City, and receives more pilgrims per year than any other Catholic Marian church in the world.
Latin America There is a rich tradition of building statues of the Madonna in South America, a sampling of which is shown in the galleries section of this article. The South American tradition of Marian art dates back to the 16th century, with the
Virgin of Copacabana gaining fame in 1582. Some noteworthy examples are: :*
Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos is located in the small town of
San Juan de los Lagos in Mexico. It is the second most visited pilgrimage shrine in Mexico, after
Our Lady of Guadalupe. :* The
Virgin of Ocotlán is a statue of the Virgin Mary in
Ocotlán, Tlaxcala, Mexico. :*
Our Lady of Navigators is a highly venerated Madonna in Brazil. The devotion started by the 15th century Portuguese navigators, praying for a safe return to their homes and then spread in Brazil. Images of, and devotions to, Madonnas such as Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos have spread from Mexico to the United States.
Italy and Spain '',
Raphael 1513 :* The
Madonna of humility by
Domenico di Bartolo, 1433, is considered one of the most innovative devotional images from the early
Renaissance. :*
Raphael's
Sistine Madonna. The painting, originally commissioned for the church of
San Sisto, Piacenza, is now at the
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden (Germany). It is considered a key example of
high Renaissance art. :*
Madonna della Strada at the
Church of the Gesu in Rome is a historic icon and the patron saint of the
Jesuits :* The Madonna statue at the altar of
Milan Cathedral is an outstanding example of
Baroque Marian art :*
Murillo's
Dolorosa Madonna in
Seville, Spain is a key example of a sorrowful Madonna :*
Madonna of the Pillar at
Zaragoza, Spain is a highly venerated statue based on a legendary vision of Saint
James the Greater. :* The
Virgin of Montserrat at the
Santa María de Montserrat monastery in Spain is a highly venerated statue and the patron saint of
Catalonia.
Central and Northern Europe :* The
Black Madonna of Częstochowa is Poland's holiest relic, and one of the country's national symbols. :* Dutch painter
Jan van Eyck's
Lucca Madonna at the
Städel Museum in
Frankfurt is a good example of
iconography where the Virgin Mary is portrayed as the
Throne of Wisdom, with Jesus sitting on her lap. :*
Michelangelo's statue of the Virgin Mary and a standing Jesus known as the
Madonna of Bruges at the
Church of Our Lady, Bruges, Belgium shares some similarities with his
Pietà which was completed sometime earlier. :* The 1898
Refugium Peccatorum Madonna by the Italian artist
Luigi Crosio has gathered significant popular following in central Europe and has since been called the
Mother Thrice Admirable Madonna, as a symbol of the
Schoenstatt Movement.
Mary in the Life of Christ , 16th century Scenes of Mary and Jesus together fall into two main groups: those with an infant Jesus, and those from the last period of his life. After the episodes of the Nativity, there are a number of further narrative scenes of Mary and the infant Jesus together which are often depicted: the
Circumcision of Christ,
Presentation of Jesus at the Temple,
Flight into Egypt, and less specific scenes of Mary and Jesus with his cousin
John the Baptist, sometimes with John's mother
Elizabeth.
Leonardo da Vinci's
Virgin of the Rocks is a famous example. Gatherings of the whole extended family of Jesus form a subject known as the
Holy Kinship, popular in the
Northern Renaissance. Mary appears in the background of the only incident in the
Gospels from the later childhood of Jesus, the
Finding in the Temple. 's
Pietà, 1498 Mary is then usually absent from scenes of the period of Christ's life between his
Baptism and his Passion, except for the
Wedding at Cana, where she is placed in the Gospels. A non-scriptural subject of
Christ taking leave of his Mother (before going to
Jerusalem at the start of his Passion) was often painted in 15th- and early 16th-century Germany. Mary is placed at the
Crucifixion of Jesus by the Gospels, and is almost invariably shown, with Saint
John the Evangelist, in fully depicted works, as well as often being shown in the background of earlier scenes of the
Passion of Christ. The
rood cross common in medieval Western churches had statues of Mary and John flanking a central
crucifix. Mary is shown as present at the
Deposition of Christ and his Entombment; in the late Middle Ages the
Pietà emerged in Germany as a separate subject, especially in sculpture. Mary is also included, though this is not mentioned in any of the scriptural accounts, in depictions of the
Ascension of Jesus. After the Ascension, she is the centrally-placed figure in depictions of
Pentecost, which is her latest appearance in the Gospels. The main scenes above, showing incidents celebrated as
feast days by the church, formed part of cycles of the
Life of the Virgin (though the selection of scenes in these varied considerably), as well as the
Life of Christ. ==Perpetual virginity==