Dear Jim,
Just a little bit of art-historical (rather than theological)
information on your wallpaintings. As you will probably know, the
unicorn could only be caught with the help of a true virgin, which
therefore came to symbolise Christ who could only be born through the
Virgin.
The image of a miniature Christ travelling down a light beam to
illustrate his conception by the Virgin in Annunciation scenes is a
familiar one; you can find it in the centre panel of Campin's Merode
Altarpiece. The Holy Ghost in the form of a Dove was also quite
common in this context. You will probably know that wallpaintings
may have been strongly influenced by contemporary religious drama;
I seem to remember that there is mention of props used to show the
Holy Ghost as a Dove flying towards the Virgin in medieval drama in:
Peter Meredith and John E Tailby (eds),
The Staging of Religious Drama in Europe in the Later Middle Ages:
Texts and Documents in English Translation,
Early Drama, Art and Music Monograph Series 4
(Kalamazoo, 1983)
- well worth looking at!
Perhaps also useful (if you do not know it already) is:
M D Anderson
Drama and Imagery in English Medieval Churches
(Cambridge, 1963)
I hope other listmembers will be able to offer further help.
Sophie Oosterwijk
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