Images of a miniature Christ travelling down the beam to the head of the
virgin (by himself or pushed by the Holy Ghost) were very common in the
high and later middle ages. However, in the later m.a. some theologians
(f.i. Antonin of Florence) objected to the image, because it suggests that
Christ did not take his flesh from the Virgin. Images of the annunciation
with an image of Christ fully formed in the virgin are rarer. I don't know
if this type of image was explicitly criticized by theologians in the
Middle Ages, but its relative lack of succes might be related to its being
potentially dangerous i.e. suggesting that Christ had been conceived
before the annunciation.
See for a discussion of these images (with reproductions) E.GULDAN, « Et
verbum caro factum est. Die Darstellung der Inkarnation Christi im
Verkündigungsbild », Römisches Quartalschrift für christliche
Altertumskunde und Kirchengeschichte, 35 (1968), p. 145-170.
Perhaps Jerome Baschet (also member of this list) knows more about these
images?
Maaike van der Lugt
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