medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
A perhaps naive art historical question from someone who is not an art
historian.
Saints in medieval iconography are often shown holding their
attributes--the lily of virginity or the palm of martyrdom--as if holding
pens. Indeed, scholarly comments on several images I have looked at
recently note this pose explicitly, albeit in passing. I have been
wondering whether this is merely a stylistic accident, or whether there is
some other kind of analogy being suggested between the pen and the lily or
palm. The logic of such an analogy is not hard to imagine: for instance,
the life of the saint is "written" by the saint's particular virtue--or
something like that.
But is there any textual evidence for such an analogy? Does anyone know of
any medieval texts that make this analogy, or that would otherwise support
reading the images in this way?
Thanks,
Tom
F. Thomas Luongo
Assistant Professor
Department of History
Tulane University
New Orleans, LA 70118
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(504) 862-8620
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