Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

  • Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception

    Ital. La Madonna Purissima. Lat. Regina sine labe originali concepta. Spa. Nuestra señora sin peccado concepida. La Concepcion. Fr. La Conception de la Vierge Marie. Ger. Das Geheimniss der unbefleckten Empfangniss Mari. (Dec. 8.) The last and the latest subject in which the Virgin appears alone without the Child is that entitled the “Immaculate Conception […]

  • The Mater Dolorosa

    Ital. La Madre di Dolore. L’Addolorata. Fr. Notre Dame de Pitié. La Vierge de Douleur. Spa. Nuestra Senora de Dolores. Ger. Die schmerzhafte Mutter. One of the most important of the devotional subjects proper to the Madonna is the “Mourning Mother,” the Mater Dolorosa, in which her character is that the mother of the crucified […]

  • The Virgin of Mercy

    Our Lady of Succor. Ital. La Madonna di Misericordia. Fr. Notre Dame de Miséricorde. Ger. Maria Mutter des Erbarmens. Sp. Nuestra Senora de Gracia. When once the Virgin had been exalted and glorified in the celestial paradise, the next and the most natural result was, that she should be regarded as being in heaven the […]

  • The Coronation of the Virgin Mary

    THE CORONATION of the Virgin follows the Assumption. In some instances this final consummation of her glorious destiny supersedes, or rather includes, her ascension into heaven. As I have already observed, it is necessary to distinguish this scenic Coronation from the mystical INCORONATA, properly so called, which is the triumph of the allegorical church, and […]

  • The Assumption of the Madonnas

    THE ASSUMPTION. The old painters distinguished between the Assumption of the soul and the Assumption of the body of the Virgin. In the first instance, at the moment the soul is separated from her body, Christ receives it into his keeping, standing in person either beside her death-bed or above it. But in the Assumption […]

  • The Entombment And Early Pictures

    THE ENTOMBMENT. In the early pictures there is little distinction between this subject and the death of the Virgin. If the figure of Christ stand over the recumbent form, holding in his arms the emancipated soul, then it is the Transito — the death or sleep; but when a sarcophagus is in the centre of […]

  • The Apostles Carry the Body of the Virgin to the Tomb

    THE APOSTLES CARRY THE BODY OF THE VIRGIN TO THE TOMB. This is a very uncommon subject. There is a most beautiful example by Taddeo Bartolo (Siena, Palazzo Pubblico) full of profound religious feeling. There is a small engraving by Bonasone, in a series of the Life of the Virgin, apparently after Parmigiano, in which […]

  • The Death of the Virgin Mary

    THE DEATH OF THE VIRGIN is styled in Byzantine and old Italian Art the Sleep of the Virgin, Il Sonno della Madonna; for it was an old superstition, subsequently rejected as heretical, that she did not really die after the manner of common mortals, only fell asleep till her resurrection. Therefore, perhaps, it is, that […]

  • The Angel Announcing to Mary Her Approaching Death

    THE ANGEL ANNOUNCING TO MARY HER APPROACHING DEATH has been rarely treated. In general, Mary is seated or standing, and the angel kneels before her, bearing the starry palm brought from Paradise. In the frescoes at Orvieto, and in the bas-relief of Orcagna, on the beautiful shrine in Or San Michele, at Florence, the angel […]

  • The Legend of the Death and Assumption of the Virgin Mary

    Mary dwelt in the house of John upon Mount Sion, looking for the fulfilment of the promise of deliverance ; and she spent her days in visiting those places which had been hallowed by the baptism, the sufferings, the burial, and resurrection of her divine Son, but more particularly the tomb wherein he was laid. […]

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