Category: The Madonna

In the first sense, the artist has intended simply to express the advent of the Divinity on earth in the form of an infant, and the motif is clearly taken from a text in the Office of the Virgin, ” Virgo quem genuit adoravit.” In the beautiful words of Jeremy Taylor, ” She blessed him, […]

We now come to the Nativity as historically treated, in which time, place, and circumstance have to be considered as in any other actual event. The time was the depth of winter, at midnight ; the place a poor stable. According to some authorities, this stable was the interior of a cavern, still shown at […]

Ital. L’ Adorazione dei Pastori. Fr. L’Adoration des Bergers. Ger. Die Anbetung der Hirten. The story thus proceeds : When the angels were gone away into heaven, the shepherds came with haste, ” and found Mary, and Joseph, and the young Child lying in a manger.” Being come, they present their pastoral offerings — a […]

Ital. L’ Adorazione de’ Magi. L’ Epifania. Fr. L’ Adoration des Rois Mages. Ger. Die Anbetung der Weisen aus dem Morgenland. Die heilige drei Konigen. (Jan. 6.) This, the most extraordinary incident in the early life of our Saviour, rests on the authority of one evangelist only. It is related by St. Matthew so briefly […]

Ital. La Purificazione della B. Vergine. Ger. Die Darbringung im Tempel. Die Beschneidung Christi. After the birth of her Son, Mary was careful to fulfil all the ceremonies of the Mosaic law. As a first-born son, he was to be redeemed by the offering of five shekels, or a pair of young pigeons (in memory […]

Ital. La Presentazione, ove nostra Signora piccioletta sale i gradi del Tempio. Ger. Joachim and Anna weihen ihre Tochter Maria im Tempel. Die Vorstellung der Jungfrau im Tempel. (Nov. 21.) In the interval between the birth of Mary and her consecration in the temple there is no incident which I can remember as being important […]

From the life of the Virgin in the temple we have several beautiful pictures. As she was to be placed before women as an example of every virtue, so she was skilled in all feminine accomplishments ; she was as studious, as learned, as wise, as she was industrious, chaste, and temperate. She is seen […]

Some other scenes of her early life, which in the Protevangelion are placed after her marriage with Joseph, in pictures usually precede it. Thus, she is chosen by lot to spin the fine purple for the temple, to weave and embroider it. Didron mentions a fine antique tapestry at Rheims, in which Mary is seated […]

Ital. Il Sposalizio. Fr. Le Mariage de la Vierge. Ger. Die Trauung Maria. (Jan. 23.) This, as an artistic subject, is of great consequence, from the beauty and celebrity of some of the representations, which, however, are unintelligible without the accompanying legends. And it is worth remarking, that while the incident is avoided in early […]

THE ANNUNCIATION Ital. L’ Annunciazione. La B. Vergine Annunziata. Fr. L’Annonciation. La Salutation Angélique. Ger. Die Verkündigung. Der englische Gruss. (March 25.) THE second part of the life of the Virgin Mary begins with the Annunciation and ends with the Crucifixion, comprising all those scriptural incidents which connect her history with that of her Divine […]