Virgin Mary
Virgin Mary (Madonna), the mother of Jesus
Christ. Only part of her legend can be found in the Gospels (of Matthew
and of Luke), many facts of her life were written later, and her cult was
established only in the late Middle Ages. The fullest account of her life
could be found in
The Golden Legend, a collection of apocryphal
texts, and saints' legends published in Latin in the 13th century by the
Dominican Jacob da Voragine, Archbishop of Genoa.
See:
Andrei Rublev. The Virgin
of Vladimir.
Theophanes the Greek. The Virgin.
The
Don Virgin.
The following episodes from the life of Mary are reflected in the fine
arts:
Birth of Mary is described in
Protoevangelium of James
(2nd century A.D.). She was miraculously born to a rich elderly man
Joachim
and his wife
Anne, who had been barren for
many years. From the age of six months, Mary was kept pure in a "sanctuary
in her chamber", cared for by "the undefiled daughters of the Hebrews."
See:
Vittore Carpaccio. Birth
of the Virgin.
Pietro Cavallini.
Nativity of the Virgin.Domenico Ghirlandaio The
Birth of Mary.
Giotto. The Birth of
Mary.
Benozzo Gozzoli. Tabernacle
of the Visitation: Birth of Mary.
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo Childhood
of the Virgin.
Francisco de Zurbarán Childhood
of the Virgin.
Presentation of the Virgin,
Protoevangelium of James
and
The Golden Legend tell how at the age of 3 Mary was brought
to the Temple with offerings. Left on the lowest step of the Temple she
mounted up without any help. After they made their offerings, Anne and
Joachim, left their daughter, with other virgins, at the Temple.
See: Jacopo Bellini. Presentation
of the Virgin at the Temple.
Cima da Conegliano.Presentation of
the Virgin Mary at the Temple.
Giotto Presentation at
the Temple.
Jacopo Robusti, called Tintoretto. Presentation
of the Virgin in the Temple.
Education of the Virgin,
Protoevangelium of James and
TheGolden
Legend tell that Mary was left in the Temple and was brought up there
'with other virgins... and was visited daily by angels'.
Jean-Honoré Fragonard. The
Education of the Virgin.
Georges de La Tour. Education
of the Virgin.
Marriage of the Virgin. Mary's
engagement and marriage are not in the Scripture either, but are invented
later. When Mary was 14 the high priest ordered all the descendants of
David of marriageable age to gather and bring a rod; whose rod blossomed
into flower would become Mary's husband. Joseph, no longer young, also
came with his rod, and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove made his rod
bloom. Then the wedding was celebrated according to Jewish customs.
See:
Fra Angelico. Annunciation.
The Wedding of the Virgin.
Giotto The Marriage
Procession of the Virgin. Marriage
of the Virgin.
El Greco Marriage of the Virgin.
Pietro Perugino. Marriage
of the Virgin.
Nicolas Poussin.
The
Marriage of the Virgin, The Marriage
of the Virgin.
Raphael Marriage of the Virgin.
Annunciation – is told by Luke (1:26-38):
'the archangel Gabriel was sent by God' to Mary. Gabriel announced to her
that she was to give birth to a son, Jesus, who 'will be great, and will
be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of
his ancestor David, and he will be king over Israel for ever; his reign
shall never end'. '"I am the Lord's servant," said Mary; "may it be as
you have said." Then the angel left her.'
See:
Antonello da Messina. Virgin
Annunciate. The Annunciation.
The
Annunciation.
Fra Bartolommeo Annunciation
Giovanni Bellini. The Annunciation.
The
Annunciation.
Alessandro Botticelli Cestello
Annunciation; The Annunciation.
William-Adolphe Bouguereau.
The Annunciation.Dieric Bouts the Elder The Annumciation.
Melchior Broederlam. Annunciation
and Visitation.
Agnolo Bronzino. Annunciation.
Annunciation.
Annunciation.
Sir Edward Burne-Jones The
Annunciation. The Flower of God, Annunciation.
Robert Campin The Annunciation.
(The Merode Altarpiece).
Vittore Carpaccio. Annunciation.
Pietro Cavallini.
Annunciation.Petrus Christus The
Annunciation and The Nativity.
Cima da Conegliano. Annunciation.
Francesco del Cossa. Annunciation.
Carlo Crivelli. Annunciation
with St. Emidius.
Duccio di Buoninsegna. Maestà:
The
Annunciation.
Jan van Eyck The Annunciation. Gabriel.
Virgin, The Annunciation,
The
Annunciation.
Fra Angelico. Annunciation
and Adoration of the Magi. Perugia
Triptych: Angel of the Annunciation. Perugia
Triptych: The Virgin from the Annunciation. Altarpiece
of the Annunciation. Annunciation.
Annunciation.
Annunciation.
Giotto. The Angel of
Annunciation. The Angel of Annunciation.
Benozzo Gozzoli. Tabernacle
of the Visitation: Annunciation: the Archangel Gabriel. Mary.
El Greco The Annunciation,
The
Annunciation,
The Annunciation,
The
Annunciation.
Matthias Grünewald The
Annunciation.
Leonardo da Vinci The Annunciation.
Limbourg Brothers.
The Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duke de Berry. Annunciation.Fra Filippo Lippi The Annunciation,
The
Annunciation.
Filippino Lippi Annunciation.
Ambrogio Lorenzetti. Annunciation.
Lorenzo Lotto The Annunciation,
The
Angel of the Annunciation.
Masolino Archangel Gabriel,
The
Virgin Annunciate,
The
Annunciation.
Anton Raphael Mengs. Annunciation.
Annunciation.
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo Annunciation.
Pontormo. Annunciation.
Nicolas Poussin The
Annunciation, The Annunciation.
Pierre-Paul Prud'hon.Head of the
Virgin for Annunciation.
Raphael The Annunciation.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti Ecce
Ancilla Domini ("The Annunciation").
Martin Schongauer. The
Annunciation.
Simone Martini. Annunciation.
Jacopo Robusti, called Tintoretto. Annunciation.
Annunciation.
Titian The Annunciation.
Paolo Veronese. The Annunciation.
Annunciation.
Rogier van der Weyden St.
Columba Altarpiece. Annunciation, Annunciation
Triptych.
Visitation, the visit of the Virgin
Mary to her cousin
St. Elizabeth
soon after the Annunciation, is described by St. Luke (1:39-56). It was
a meeting of mutual rejoicing: Mary had conceived and Elizabeth was in
the sixth month of pregnancy with her future son, St. John the Baptist.
When Elizabeth saw Mary and heard her greetings, 'the baby stirred in her
womb.' And she said to Mary: 'Happy is she who has had faith that the Lord's
promise to her would be fulfilled!'
And Mary answered:
'My soul tells out the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour;
for he has looked with favour on his servant,
lowly as she is.
From this day forwardd
all genertions will count me blessed,
for the Mighty God has done great things for me."
See:
William-Adolphe Bouguereau.
The Visitation.Dieric Bouts the Elder The
Visitation.
Melchior Broederlam. Annunciation
and Visitation.
Maurice Denis. The Visitation.
El Greco. Visitation.
Jean Fouquet Visitation.
Fra Angelico. Annunciation.
The Visitation.
Domenico Ghirlandaio The
Visitation.
Giotto. The Visitation.
Limbourg Brothers.
Les trčs riches heures du Duc de Berry. Mary Visits St. Elizabeth.Pontormo. The Visitation.
The
Visitation.
Jan van Scorel. The Visitation.
Rogier van der Weyden Visitation
of Mary.
Second Annunciation is only rarely portrayed
in art, although it is known from the
Golden Legend. Shortly before
her death, an angel appeared to Mary a second time and told her that she
would be assumed into Heaven, an idea closely related to the belief of
immaculate conception and assumption. Mary correspondingly portrayed as
an older woman wearing the veil of a married woman.
See:
Duccio di Buoninsegna. Maestà:
The
Announcement of the Virgin's Death.
Jean Fouquet. Second
Annunciation.
Death of the Virgin is told
in apocryphal texts: Mary, who lived till old age, longed to be with her
son again. An angel visited her and foretold her death in the next three
days. She prayed to be allowed to see all the apostles again. Apostles
by that time were scattered over the world, but by divine power they were
all brought to the bed of the dying Virgin. In three days she died and
was met in heaven by Jesus Christ, angels, saints, martyrs, and virgins.
See:
Pieter Bruegel the Elder.The
Death of the Virgin.
Caravaggio Death
of the Virgin.
Pietro Cavallini.
Death of the Virgin.Duccio di Buoninsegna. Maestà:
Parting
from the Apostles, The Death of the
Virgin.
Fra Angelico. Annunciation. The
Death of the Virgin.
Giotto The Death of the
Virgin.
Hugo van der Goes Death of
the Virgin.
Benozzo Gozzoli. Tabernacle
of the Madonna delle Tosse: Death of Mary.
Hans Holbein the Elder Death
of the Virgin.
Andrea Mantegna. The Death
of the Virgin.
Theophanes the Greek School. The
Dormition.
Assumption – bodily ascension into
heaven after death.
Assumption of the Virgin has no Biblical basis, and it took
a long time to establish this belief. Three days after her death the Virgin
Mary was taken up to heaven.
See:
Andrea del Castagno. The
Assumption of the Virgin with SS. Julian and Miniato.
Correggio Assumption of
the Virgin.
Anthony van Dyck The
Assumption of the Virgin.
Benozzo Gozzoli. Tabernacle
of the Madonna delle Tosse: Assumption of the Virgin.
El Greco. Assumption
of the Virgin.
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo The
Assumption of the Virgin.
Pietro Perugino. The Assumption
of the Virgin with Saints.
Nicolas Poussin The
Assumption of the Virgin, The Assumption
of the Virgin.
Peter Paul Rubens The Assumption
of the Virgin.
Jacopo Robusti, called Tintoretto. Assumption
of the Virgin.
Titian Assumption of the Virgin.
Coronation of the Virgin took place just after her Assumption.
In the heavens Mary was crowned. In the fine arts she is shown crowned
by Christ, or by God the Father, or by the Trinity: Christ, God the Father
and the dove, which symbolizes the Holy Ghost, are all present. The belief
in the Coronation of the Virgin has no basis in the Bible. It is derived
from the text attributed to a Bishop Melito of Sardis.
See:
Giovanni Bellini. Pesaro
Altarpiece. Coronation of the Virgin.
Alessandro Botticelli Coronation
of the Virgin with the Saints John the Evangelist, Augustine, Jerome and
Eligius. (San Marco altarpiece).
Fra Angelico. The Coronation
of the Virgin. The Coronation
of the Virgin. The Coronation
of the Virgin. Coronation of the
Virgin.
Giusto de' Menabuoi.
The Coronation of the Virgin among Saints and Angels.El Greco The Coronation of
the Virgin.
Limbourg Brothers.
Les trčs riches heures du Duc de Berry. Coronation of Mary.Filippino Lippi The Coronation
of the Virgin.
Fra Filippo Lippi Coronation of
the Virgin,
The Coronation
of the Virgin.
Raphael Coronation
of the Virgin.
Diego Velázquez. The
Coronation of the Virgin.
Virgin Mary is present, though not as the main character, in
all episodes connected with the birth, early years and death of her son
Jesus Christ.
Recommended reading:
365
Mary: A Daily Guide to Mary's Wisdom and Comfort by Woodeene
Koenig-Brick (Author). Harper SanFrancisco, 1997.
Hail,
Holy Queen: The Mother of God in the Word of God by Scott Hahn.
Doubleday, 2001.
Mary
and the Fathers of the Church: The Blessed Virgin Mary in Patristic Thought
by Thomas Buffer (Translator), Luigi S. M. Gambero. Ignatius Press, 1999.
Mary
Through the Centuries: Her Place in the History of Culture
by Jaroslav Pelikan. Yale Univ Pr, 1998.
Mary:
A Flesh-and-Blood Biography of the Virgin Mother by Lesley
Hazleton (Author). Bloomsbury USA, 2004.
The
World's First Love by Fulton J. Sheen. Ignatius Press, 1996.
Mary:
A History of Doctrine and Devotion by Hilda Graef. Sheed &
Ward Ltd, 1999.
Introduction
to Mary: The Heart of Marian Doctrine and Devotion by Mark
I. Miravalle. Sheed & Ward Ltd, 1999.
John
Paul II's Book of Mary by Margaret Bunson (Compiler), Paul,
II John. Our Sunday Visitor, 1996.
The
Essential Mary Handbook: A Summary of Beliefs, Practices, and Prayers
(Redemptorist Pastoral Publication)
by Judith A. Bauer (Editor). Liguori Publications, 1999.
Roses,
Fountains, and Gold: The Virgin Mary in History, Art, and Apparition
by John Martin. Ignatius Press, 1998.
Mary:
Images of the Holy Mother by Jacqueline Orsini. Chronicle Books,
2000.
A
Handbook on Guadalupe by Brother Francis Mary (Editor), Francis
Mary. Ignatius Press, 1997.
The
Orthodox Veneration of Mary the Birthgiver of God by St. John
Maximovitch, Seraphim Father Rose (Translator). St Herman of Alaska Brotherhood,
1997.
Mary's
First Christmas by Walter, Jr. Wangerin. Zondervan, 1998.