medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Marjorie,
Sorry, I should have been clearer in my use of directions. I meant the
center figure's own proper right and left, not the viewer's.
It had occurred to me that the bearded fellow could be God the Father...
and that would make sense if, as you suggest, we could then take the
beardless one as Christ, and the woman as the Holy Spirit. I also have
heard of a few holy spirit images that have been interpreted as feminine,
notably one in Urschalling, Bavaria. But this still confuses me. First,
beardless is definately on the central figure's *left* hand. And though I
know Christ is sometimes shown beardless in early Christian art, my sense
is that that's pretty rare in the later MA --- though I could well be
wrong. The main reason I identified the central figure with Christ is that
he has the young features and somewhat scraggly beard that I associate with
the Son, rather than with the older, more venerably-bearded Father.
Thanks for the clarification that the cruciform halo *is* sometimes used
for saints. I'd suggested Mary and John b/c (a) they're prominent saints;
(b) the beardless factor, and (c) the spatial arrangement. But you're right
that that's sort of unsatisfying given how trinitarian the iconography is.
I did have a third idea... could it be a vision of the trinity as a
reflection of humanity: man, woman, and beardless child/adolescent? The
chalices would seem to point the viewer towards thinking of eucharistic
concerns. Perhaps the underlying theology of the image is that Christ's
incarnation, suffering, and death redeemed all humanity, inclusively? That
all who participate in the eucharistic sacrifice thereby participate in
Christ, and this participation is rendered by showing an inclusive trinity
holding chalices? I'll admit that this idea is sort of "out there," but
I've certainly seen more unusual ideas in medieval texts... I'm less
confident in dealing with images, however.
Of course, the image could deliberately be meant to invoke several things
at once.
--Nancy Caciola
History, UC-San Diego
At 10:46 AM 3/10/01 -0800, you wrote:
>medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
>I think you have an image of the Trinity rather than
>Jesus, Mary and John. It's not unheard-of to have the
>Holy Spirit represented as a woman. On the other hand,
>the MED-ART people recently had a rather lengthy and
>fruitful discussion of this and several members of the
>list adduced images of saints with cruciform nimbi.
>(Not supposed to be, but is.) Colum Hourihane's
>(Princeton Index of Christian Art) response was the
>fullest and most helpful as I recall.
>
>Best,
>MG
>
> The central one is bearded and looks
> > like Christ
>
>God the Father
>
> > to his left
>
>His left or the viewer's left? If the figure is at the
>bearded man's right, I'd argue for Christ who sits at
>the right hand of the Father.
>
> >They are all
> > of similar size,
> > frontal aspect, calm expression; each holds an
> > identical chalice in his/her
> > left hand, and has the right hand raised in a
> > blessing gesture.
>
>These are, to me, clear indications that you're
>dealing with a Trinity image: equality (indicated by
>size and identical attributes); ability to bless. I
>have never in my life seen an image with a woman's
>hand in a blessing gesture but I'm quite open to
>correction here.
>
> > art historian, so my opinion on dating is crude, but
> > my best guess would be
> > 14C-.
>
>I'm not an art historian either, but I think your
>guess is a good one. Perhaps even later than 14th c.
>
>Best,
>MG
>
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