"Charity's Nudity and the Veil of Allegory," in: Renaissance Studies in Honor of Joseph Connors (Milan, Libraria Officina, and Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press), pp. 520-26 (with images). (original) (raw)
Related papers
'An embrace of the hearts': divine union and the kiss in Lucas Cranach’s images of Charity
Simiolus, 2015
Italian sculptors reinvented the personification of Charity in the early fourteenth-century, and thereafter the depiction of the virtue remained subject to change and reinterpretation. Those changes were often prompted by shifts in opinions or practices, even when the change was only minor. Around the middle of the fifteenth century, Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553) introduced a significant detail in some of his many depictions of Charity personified: a child embraces its mother lovingly and kisses her, creating an intimacy which until then had been reserved for images of the Madonna, especially in the Low Countries (fig. 1). The sensual nature of these Madonna pictures has been noted elsewhere, as has this aspect’s reliance on the Song of Songs, one of the books of the Old Testament. Several details add to the sensuality of these pictures, some of them even overtly erotic. Here I would like to focus on one element, namely the embrace combined with a kiss. This iconographical detail was adopted in depictions of Charity, and surprisingly, images of Charity have hardly been examined in this context, although they would become omnipresent in the days of the Reformation. While tracing the development and meaning of the kiss, I will explore the implications for the meaning of Charity personified. The kiss not only recalled the loving relationship between Christ and his mother, but also imposed ideas of divine union onto Charity.
Representations of breastfeeding women, of women with small children in their care, and of women who are either serving or asking for food are abundant in Jacopo Tintoretto's (1519-1594) religious paintings. 1 Such allegories of charity are particularly numerous in his Christ-centered decorative program for the first-floor meeting hall of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco. Here, nursing women, prominently displayed in the bottom corners of the pictorial space, encourage the viewer to read core events in the history of salvation -such as the Baptism of Christ, Moses Striking the Rock, and the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes -from the perspective of charity, the most important among the four cardinal Christian virtues. 2 A wet nurse with an exposed breast is waiting on the infant Jesus in the Adoration of the Shepherds; and a female beggar waits patiently for scraps from the table of the Last Supper. The Marian cycle in the ground-floor meeting hall features lactation scenes as well: in the Flight into Egypt, the Virgin Mary nurses Christ at a moment of rest; in the adjoining Massacre of the Innocents, naked infants are brutally separated from their nurses' breasts; and in the Circumcision of Christ, located between the two staircases that lead upstairs, a breastfeeding mother, watching Christ being circumcised, is waiting for her baby's turn in the left bottom corner of the painting. 3 Similarly, in other paintings by Tintoretto, such as the Presentation of the Virgin, the Miracle of the Slave, and various Last Suppers, highly foreshortened and otherwise conspicuous nurses and domestic servants offer visual points of entry into the artist's unusual spatial compositions and underscore his insistence on charity as a basic component for an understanding of the mysteries of eschatological history.
Representations of breastfeeding women, of women with small children in their care, and of women who are either serving or asking for food are abundant in Jacopo Tintoretto's (1519-1594) religious paintings. 1 Such allegories of charity are particularly numerous in his Christ-centered decorative program for the first-floor meeting hall of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco. Here, nursing women, prominently displayed in the bottom corners of the pictorial space, encourage the viewer to read core events in the history of salvation -such as the Baptism of Christ, Moses Striking the Rock, and the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes -from the perspective of charity, the most important among the four cardinal Christian virtues. 2 A wet nurse with an exposed breast is waiting on the infant Jesus in the Adoration of the Shepherds; and a female beggar waits patiently for scraps from the table of the Last Supper. The Marian cycle in the groundfloor meeting hall features lactation scenes as well: in the Flight into Egypt, the Virgin Mary nurses Christ at a moment of rest; in the adjoining Massacre of the Inno cents, nak ed infants are brutally separated from their nurses' breasts; and in the Circumcision of Christ, located between the two staircases that lead upstairs, a breast feed ing mother, watching Christ being circumcised, is waiting for her baby's turn in the left bottom corner of the painting. 3 Similarly, in other paintings by Tintoretto, such as the Presentation of the Virgin, the Miracle of the Slave, and various Last Suppers, highly foreshortened and otherwise conspicuous nurses and domestic servants offer visual points of entry into the artist's unusual spatial compositions and underscore his insistence on charity as a basic component for an understanding of the mysteries of eschatological history.
Growing Charity's Roots: The Soul-Tree of St. Catherine of Siena
St. Austin Review, 2020
The complex and subtle anthropology of St. Catherine of Siena's 'Dialogo' is often overlooked in favor of its dazzling and intricate images, which dominate the kaleidoscopic quality of her work. This paper explores one of Catherine's subtler images, namely, the tree of charity, to demonstrate how Catherine offers through it a richly detailed and penetrating theological anthropology and theology of the virtues, wherein suffering plays an indispensable role in the cultivation of spiritual mastery, which culminates in perfect love. As a result, Catherine provides through her allegorical imagery a compelling treatment of the redeemed function and very necessity of suffering in the human condition as we inhabit it.
Iconology of Charity : Medieval Legends of Saint Elizabeth in Central Europe
Iconology of Charity : Medieval Legends of Saint Elizabeth in Central Europe, 2020
The images analyzed in this book allow each viewer to interact with Saint Elizabeth’s unique spiritual way, which was nurtured by various sources, including moments of spontaneous inspiration. The religious leaders who went on to imagine and commission a visual image understood the enormous potential associated with the religious zeal of the extraordinary noble lady as a shining example offering new paths toward Christian charity. The images represent an important testimony of what happened, or rather how the artist or the patron imagined events from the saint’s life. Elizabeth’s extraordinary individual charity has been a source of inspiration to many of her admirers. Still, the artists and patrons must have experienced and considered the needs and desires that characterized their period and the communities they were serving. There has been a significant interval between the over-temporal needs or values and contingent historical situations with changing constellations of interests, medial landscapes and rules of the political game. The medieval cult of saint Elizabeth awakened the interest of the most influential political figures. Their individual dialogues with the saint connected resonant spiritual messages, valid for the duration of any individual’s lifespan, with transient concerns about political struggles, military fights, or materialistic considerations. As a result, the images are multilayered products reflecting human needs and longings on several levels. This book offers a minuscule testimony from this endless flux of feelings, observations and meditations to broaden slightly the limited range of human experience.
The Nursing Madonna in the Middle Ages: An Interdisciplinary Study
Religions
Because of the transgression of the first woman Eve, all medieval women bore the punishment, including the biological consequences related to pregnancy and birth. This affected the entire female gender, according to Judeo-Christian tradition. Although Mary was able to avoid some biological consequences, this was not the case with breastfeeding. This work aims to study sacred images—and especially those of the Nursing Mary—from an interdisciplinary point of view, by delving into rather unconventional sources such as medical treatises, whose perception of the female body may have influenced the creation and reception of certain iconographic types of the Virgin.
The persuasive power of a mother’s breast: the most desperate act of the Virgin Mary’s Advocacy
Studia Hibernica, 2003
The persuasive power of a mother's breast: the most desperate act of the Virgin Mary's Advocacy1 SALVADOR RYAN (Dept. of History, NUI, Maynooth) Depictions of the Madonna and Child, which for centuries have adorned Catholic churches and burial grounds, tend to evoke warm responses from the majority who choose to behold what appears to be an idyllic and peaceful scene. A variation of this theme, such as the portrayal of the Virgin Mary breast-feeding her Divine Son, although less common, has also claimed great popularity among iconographers from the first centuries of Christianity. However, some popular late-medieval interpretations of the latter depiction suggest that far from being a representation of a serene mother and child at one, the iconography depicts a veritable battle of wills. The mother (Mary) suckles her Son (Christ) in a desperate effort to appease His anger, thus hoping to offset the terrible judgement He plans to impose on humanity. This paper explores the effect of the Virgin Mary's breasts on Christ the Judge, as understood in European popular piety of the late medieval period, and more specifically in Ireland. In the first instance, Mary employs her breasts to feed and nourish the infant Christ, calming His anger and setting Him at peace. However, when this method fails, she chooses to employ a more radical use of her breasts in a desperate effort to attain mercy for humanity in her role as Advocate, as discussed below. It is this second method, which is treated at greatest length here. An elaborate gesture of the Virgin Mary before her Son, popularised as a motif from the twelfth century onwards, is firstly traced to its pre-Christian roots. In addition, its subsequent manifestation across Europe, which includes an appear ance in sixteenth-century Gaelic Irish bardic poetry, is explored. What results is an examination of one of the most fascinating reli gious motifs of the late medieval period.
The Sheltering Cloak. Images of Charity and Mercy in Fourteenth-century Italy
Textile: The Journal of Cloth and Culture, 11, 3, 2013
The iconography of charity (caritas) underwent considerable changes in fourteenth-century Italy, signifying a break with the traditional transalpine depictions of love personified. Some iconographical aspects of the French Caritas Misericordia (or Mercy Charity) were transferred to the Madonna of Mercy, also known as the sheltering-cloak Madonna. With her cloak spread to protect the needy and her devotees, the Madonna of Mercy likewise personifies benevolence, leaving room for artists to develop an allegorical type of Charity. Significantly, the earliest Mother of Mercy images show the Virgin extending her cloak with her own hands as Mercy Charity. The meaning of the gesture is multifaceted. The Virgin is not just offering a cloak, but sharing hers. Because of the association of textiles with flesh, and therefore with the incarnation, textile relics were supposed to have protective powers. With the garment, Charity—and later the Virgin—provides the pauper with a protective layer. The development of the Madonna of Mercy fits changed views and practices of charity in Italy during the thirteenth century. The Madonna of Mercy is depicted frequently in churches, oratories, and charitable institutions, often depicted more than once within one hospital. In the gesture of opening up her mantle, she mirrors the hospital loggia. The cloak of the Virgin could symbolize the protective walls of a building, or even the dome of heaven. Reversely, the loggia of the hospital could be regarded metaphorically as a sheltering cloth protecting the citizens of the community. Visually the loggia functioned not just as a transitional area, but an embracing and enclosing space covering the community like a sheltering cloak. As such, the loggia articulated the purpose and aspirations of the hospital in society, reflecting the popular image of the Madonna of Mercy.
The persuasive power of a mother’s breast: the most desperate act of the Virgin Mary’s Advocacy1
Studia Hibernica, 1970
The persuasive power of a mother's breast: the most desperate act of the Virgin Mary's Advocacy1 SALVADOR RYAN (Dept. of History, NUI, Maynooth) Depictions of the Madonna and Child, which for centuries have adorned Catholic churches and burial grounds, tend to evoke warm responses from the majority who choose to behold what appears to be an idyllic and peaceful scene. A variation of this theme, such as the portrayal of the Virgin Mary breast-feeding her Divine Son, although less common, has also claimed great popularity among iconographers from the first centuries of Christianity. However, some popular late-medieval interpretations of the latter depiction suggest that far from being a representation of a serene mother and child at one, the iconography depicts a veritable battle of wills. The mother (Mary) suckles her Son (Christ) in a desperate effort to appease His anger, thus hoping to offset the terrible judgement He plans to impose on humanity. This paper explores the effect of the Virgin Mary's breasts on Christ the Judge, as understood in European popular piety of the late medieval period, and more specifically in Ireland. In the first instance, Mary employs her breasts to feed and nourish the infant Christ, calming His anger and setting Him at peace. However, when this method fails, she chooses to employ a more radical use of her breasts in a desperate effort to attain mercy for humanity in her role as Advocate, as discussed below. It is this second method, which is treated at greatest length here. An elaborate gesture of the Virgin Mary before her Son, popularised as a motif from the twelfth century onwards, is firstly traced to its pre-Christian roots. In addition, its subsequent manifestation across Europe, which includes an appear ance in sixteenth-century Gaelic Irish bardic poetry, is explored. What results is an examination of one of the most fascinating reli gious motifs of the late medieval period.