LUINI, Bernardino
Madonna in the Rose Garden
Madonna in the Rose Garden
"Eve was a thorn, wounding, bringing death to all; in Mary we see a rose, soothing everybody's hurts, giving the destiny of salvation back to all. Mary was a rose, white for maidenhood, red for love; white in body, red in soul; white in her seeking after virtue, red in treading down vice; white in cleansing her affections, red in mortifying her flesh; white in her love of God, red in compassion for her neighbor." --
St. Bernard of Clairvaux
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I've wondered why Mary was described as a 'rose' and now I know!
ReplyDeletenjl, there's much more to her title as Mystical Rose -- Rosa Mystica -- but I'd have to do some research to find it. It seems to come from the Apparitions of Our Lady at Montichiari. I don't know if they are church-approved apparitions, or if that was the first time the title was used, but that seems to be the root of it.
ReplyDeleteI checked, and the apparition was not approved by the church, but interesting to read about if you want to google it. http://campus.udayton.edu/mary//resources/aprtable.html
ReplyDeleteI'm not attempting to be unkind here to you, but I don't understand why artists feel they need to portray Jesus naked, showing his winky and all. What is the point? I am not being sarcastic. Honestly I am unsure why artists do this. The rest of the art is so lovely, and then they go and ruin it by total nakedness. It just doesn't seem to portray the virtue of modesty. Perhaps you have insight on this?
ReplyDeleteThanks for your Catholic blogging.
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteI don't think we can think of this as anything other than a different time period in history. While it might be considered immodest to paint a naked baby God now (because we associate immodesty with immoral behavior), this piece was created in 1473 during the Renaissance period, when nudity in art was very common. There have probably been psychological studies as to why, but I don't know -- you'll see an abundance of nude figures through the period in architecture as well as paintings and sculpture. I have an art history friend who studied in Rome in college -- I'll be sure to pick her brain about it.
Please don't feel as though the artist is somehow belittling Our Lord, however. According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, "In addition to adult male and female figures, Renaissance artists also developed a nude type for the Christ Child. As analyzed by Leo Steinberg, the depiction of the baby undressed in his mother's arms, with sex prominently exposed, was meant to express the theological status of Christ as God made man." It is possible that renaissance artists were in such awe that our God came to be with man, that they reminded each other at every turn.