medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On 11/22/2010 12:42 PM, Dr Jim Bugslag wrote:
> The problem with such iconographic questions is that Emile Male was
> dead wrong when he wrote about medieval artists being constrained by
> iron-clad laws of representation.
Absolutely! There are no firm rules-- especially for early images,
before there was any 'normal' for a given person or event. But there are
some generalizations that often hold true. A nearly nude man nailed to a
cross is usually Jesus, if there is no evidence to the contrary. (When
you hear hoof beats, don't look for galloping zebras.)
The image here is a nimbed woman, with long uncovered hair, clasping a
large cross. It could be almost any female saint. If the image were
totally isolated, I would think first of a female virgin martyr (i.e.
neither Mary Magdalene nor the Virgin Mary). Since it is on the Essex
object opposite the indulgenced image of the Five Wounds of Jesus, I
wonder whether there was a similarly indulgenced image of a female
saint. (I am not an expert on these!) And since both images of the
Wounds and the names of the Magi were apotropaic, I would like to know
about protective images of female saints.
Do we have lurking fifteenth/sixteenth-century experts on the list?
I'm afraid that I can't identify either plant, which might indeed offer
further clues.
Genevra
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