Skip to main content

Home

  • Home
  • Archived issues
  • About
  • Contact
  • Editorial Policies
  • Publication Ethics
  • Peer Review Guidelines and Form

Return to Mirabilia Journal

José María SALVADOR GONZÁLEZ

Byzantine iconography of The Nativity of the Virgin Mary in the light of a homily of St. John Damascene

Byzantine iconography of The Nativity of the Virgin Mary in the light of a homily of St. John Damascene

Published in
El Poder de la Imagen. Ideas y funciones de las representaciones artísticas

Keywords: Byzantine Iconography, Medieval Art, Nativity of the Virgin, St. John of Damascus, Virgin Mary.

PDF download:

PDF icon 02-09.pdf

As a result of the fact that the New Testament mentions little episodes and provides very few details of the real life of the Virgin Mary, several pious apocryphal legends emerged during the first centuries between the eastern Christian communities, which tried by all means to solve this hermetic silence surrounding the birth, childhood, youth, adulthood and death of the Mother of Jesus. These apocryphal accounts were then assumed and interpreted by numerous Church Fathers, theologians and sacral orators. These reflections of such prestigious thinkers structured a solid corpus of doctrine from which several devotions and Marian liturgical feasts of great importance would arise shortly after. The supernatural birth of Mary, after her miraculous conception in the womb of her elderly and sterile mother Anne, is a primary milestone in her “imaginary” life. As natural fruit of these heterogeneous literary and theological sources, the European medieval art and, in a very special way, the Byzantine one, addressed with remarkable enthusiasm the iconographic theme of The Nativity of the Virgin Mary, especially since the 10th-11th centuries, as one of the most significant episodes in the life of the Theotókos. On this basis, our paper proposes a triple complementary objective. First and foremost, it will highlight the content of the apocryphal sources and some thoughts or patristic exegesis on the subject, with particular emphasis in the homilies of St. John Damascene. Secondly, it will look at some Byzantine paintings on The Nativity of Mary, to determine to what extent the apocryphal accounts and the exegetical or doctrinal reflections on this Marian event are reflected in the characters, situations, attitudes, accessories and scenic items represented in these paintings. Finally, it will suggest some author’s interpretations which seem plausible on the possible symbolic meanings underlying in this relevant, dogmatic core and in its corresponding iconographic theme.

Indexed by

Mirabilia on ERIH PLUS
Journal of Scholar Metrics logo Medievalismo.org Modern Language Association
Dulcinea logo MIAR logo Indexed articles on Google Scholar Dialnet (Difusión de Alertas en la Red) InterClassica - Investigación y Difusión del Mundo Griego y Romano Antiguo Latindex Regesta Imperii BIBP - Base d'Information Bibliographique en Patristique AHLM - Asociación Hispánica de Literatura Medieval University of California, Berkeley CUNY - The City University of New York Diarium GrinUGR - co-laboratorio sobre cultura digital en ciencias sociales y humanidades Cambridge Journals Mètode Rebiun - Red de Bibliotecas Universitarias Stadt Regensburg Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin UC Santa Barbara Universidad de San Andrés Associazione italiana di studi catalani : AISC THE BRITISH LIBRARY - The world's knowledge Brepols Publishers Die Bayerische Staatsbibliothek: Aktuelles aus der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek CBUC - Consorci de Biblioteques Universitàries de Catalunya A world top 100 University - Durham University Haverford College Institut d'Estudis Catalans: l'acadèmia catalana de les ciències i les humanitats University of Leeds Wissensportal ETH-Bibliothek RACO - Revistes Catalanes amb Accés Obert The Medieval Academy of America Qüern - Bibliographical Bulletin of Catalan Language and Literature of Mediaeval and Modern Ages Medievalists.net - Where the Middle Ages Begin Memorial University SLUB Dresden Staatsbibliothek Bamberg: Startseite UniFI - Corso di Laurea Triennale in Storia ORB - The Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies Technische Informationsbibliothek und Universitätsbibliothek Hannover Universitätsbibliothek Frankfurt am Main Universidad de los Andes - Colombia Universität Hamburg Universität Regensburg UPR-RP The University of Tennessee at Martin Einrichtungen der Hochschule Darmstadt - Bibliothek- Hochschule Darmstadt Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek (ULB) Bibliothek der Hochschule Osnabrück: Bibliothek Universitätsbibliothek @ TU Braunschweig Universität Vechta - Niedersachsen - University of Vechta - Germany: Bibliothek Bibliotheken - EKHN | Evangelische Kirche in Hessen und Nassau GEI: Home Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Bibliothek - Leibniz HsH - Bibliothek - Bibliothek im Kurt-Schwitters-Forum Herder-Institut: Startseite The University of Tennessee at Martin Hochschule Merseburg: Hochschulbibliothek Hochschule RheinMain IEG - Leibniz Institut für Europäische Geschichte Mainz Leuphana Universität Lüneburg: Bibliothek  Herzlich Willkommen auf der Homepage der Bibliothek Hessisches Staatsarchiv Marburg - Startseite Bibliothekssystem Universität Hamburg : Portrait Aktuelles aus der Hochschulbibliothek ThULB Jena - Thüringer Universitäts und Landesbibliothek UNIVERSITÄTSBIBLIOTHEK: Direktlinks Literaturrecherche Universitätsbibliothek Universitätsbibliothek Rostock - Home Startseite – Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Darmstadt – Technische Universität Darmstadt Welcome to Justus Liebig University Giessen! — Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen Georg-August-Universität Göttingen Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald - Bibliothek Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel | Startseite Universitätsbibliothek Regensburg - Universität Regensburg IEG - Leibniz Institut für Europäische Geschichte Mainz Startseite - Philipps-Universität Marburg - Universitätsbibliothek Bibliothek der Hochschule Osnabrück: Bibliothek Hochschule Magdeburg-Stendal Bauhaus-Universität Weimar: Universitätsbibliothek IEG - Leibniz Institut für Europäische Geschichte Mainz Startseite : Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur | Mainz
Ivitra - Institut Virtual Internacional de Traducción

ISSN 1676-5818

© 2000 Mirabilia Journal.

All rights reserved.

Web design by Felipe Lube de Bragança.