Iconography of the Day: Hodegetria

Title
"Mother and Child"

Origin
Byzantine (Constantinople)

Date
Circa 5th century

Classification
Originally used on war victory banners

Current location
Original icon was destroyed in the Fall of Constantinople

The Hodegetria image is particularly commonplace among the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches. Hodegetria (Gr., Οδηγήτρια) means "She who shows the Way". Mary, the Mother of Christ, is called Theotokos (Gr. Θεοτόκος), literally meaning "God-bearer" or "the one who gives birth to God". It was decreed by the Counsel of Ephesus in 431 that Theotokos should be identified with Mary, mother of the Christ. Traditionally, the Hodegetria refers to the icon at Hodegon Monastery in Constanople, but thereafter all images of Mother and Child with the characteristics addressed in the following are referred to as Hodegetria. The original Hodegetria icon was installed by the Empress Pulcheria in the mid-fifth century in Hodegon Monastery, eastern Constantinople. The icon itself was used long before it acquired its title as Hodegetria. Tradition accredits the icon to St. Luke, the evangelist.
Any image of Hodegetria will engage Mary with the viewer in a frontal gaze. Mary points to the Christ Child held on the viewer's left side, but on her right side (the side of Christ may vary according to origin). This is significant to the duality of Mary, who immaculately delivered the Saviour of humanity unto the world and served as the human bride of God. The Christ Child is identified as the path to Salvation by Mary, who points to Him with her manneristically elongated fingers. The receptive demeanor of the Christ Child expresses His acknowledgment of His fate as the Saviour of all of humanity. He holds His right hand up in blessing, holding the index and middle fingers together, which also refers to Christ's dual nature as divine and human. Furthermore, the thumb locked over the other fingers signify the Trinity. A starburst is on one or both shoulders and on the part of the mantle that covers the forehead. Logograms on the left and right, level with the top of the Virgin's head, appear to be "Θς", the first and last initials of the Greek word Θεοτόκος, or "God-bearer". The fringe on the mantle indicates Mary's imperial status, as does the throne that is occasionally included in the image. The image below exhibits how wide-spread the image was before the Great Schism of the 15th century. Additionally, it shows Hodegetria iconography variability, featuring Madonna and Child enthroned. In Hodegetria images with angels, the four archangels are iconographically represented: Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, and Uriel. Title
"Madonna and Child with Angels", Book of Kells (fol. 7v)

Origin
Insular (Anglo-Saxon)

Date
8th Century

Medium
Vellum

Dimensions
13"x9 1/2"

Classication
Full-page miniature

Current location
Dublin, Ireland
Acquired in 1654

MS 58

Iconography of the Day: Unicorn

Title
"The Unicorn in Captivity"

Origin
South Netherlandish

Date
1495-1505

Medium
Wool warp, wool, silk, silver, and gilt wefts

Dimensions
145" x 99" (368 x 251.5 cm)

Classification
Textiles-Tapestries

Current Location
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
Acquired in 1937

Accession Number
37.80.6

According to Gertrude Schiller in "Iconography of Christian Art", any icon with connection to the unicorn hunt, such as "The Unicorn in Captivity", is associated with the popular, albeit profane, imagery of the Annunciation. The "profane" in the medieval sense of the word is far disconnected from our understanding of the "profane", so we will identify the image as "secular". The requirements of art from the Church and the requirements of art from the pious art patrons clashed often, and this image was among the many to be forbidden by the Church.This particular technicality in regards to the Unicorn Hunt motif was judged in the Counsel of Trent (1563). Although the Church regarded the icon forever more as secular in nature, there are remains of this icon motif in medieval Churches, such as the altarpiece at Erfurt Cathedral altarpiece. The catch-22 is applicable here in that what the Church is capable of saying is quite different from what the Church is capable of effectually doing.
Nevertheless, what is iconographically significant in "The Unicorn in Captivity", the principal figure is shown in a closed garden. The closed garden, Lat. hortus conclusus, is directly referenced in Song of Solomon 4:12-13:
"You are a garden locked up, my sister, my bride; you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain. Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruits, with henna and nard"
Mary is connoted as bride of God and thereby the "closed garden". She was held captive by the purity of Holy Spirit and delivered unto the world its fruits, embodied as the Son of God who would atone for the sin of humankind, as announced by Archangel Gabriel (Luke 1:28-38). She bore Jesus with unscathed Virginity; this is allegorically comparable to Exodus 3:3-4, in which the fire did not consume the burning bush before Moses. This particular verse in Song of Solomon also addresses Mary's state of immunity from Satan, i.e. the bride as a "spring enclosed" or "sealed fountain". Such miraculous things exhibit the power of the Holy Spirit to dwell within anything.
Those from medieval times believed unicorns existed and actually hunted them; this tapestry shows the unicorn as a thing of captive purity. Greek legend deemed the unicorn as having supernatural powers. These ideas were Christianized into the unicorn having powers of the Holy Spirit that would provide all who touched its horn with the power of immunity from Satan.
The excessive flora and fauna enveloping the principal figure associates with fertility and fecundity, among other blessings in and of the Spirit. Here is a list of the iconographically significant flora and fauna featured in "The Unicorn in Captivity":
Bistort (Polygonum bistorta) was thought to help a woman conceive. The plant was also used to heal wounds, stop vomiting, and as a diuretic.
Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus) symbolized earthly and diving love, betrothal and marriage, and Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary.
Columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris ) was often associated with the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. It also symbolized love, fertility, constancy, loyalty, and the Virgin Mary. It was used to treat jaundice, sore mouths and throats, and during childbirth. When carried on one's person, it supposedly stopped dogs from barking.
Cuckoo-pint (Arum maculatum) was thought to drive away melancholy and reptiles as well as attack poison. It was used to relieve swellings when made into a plaster as well as help complexions when in powdered-form. It was also used to treat chest complaints. cuckoo-pint mixed with fresh ox dung was used to treat gout.
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) was one of the bitter herbs used by the Jews for Seder, and symbolized the Passion of Christ.
Madonna lily (Lilium candidum) was symbolic of the Virgin Mary's purity. It also stood for faithfulness in love and marriage. It was used to treat ulcers and burns and to relieve breathing and ear problems. Madonna lily was also used to combat serpent venom and to test the virginity of a maiden.
Pomegranate (Punica granatum) held several meanings. The seeds were viewed as a symbol of the chastity of the Virgin Mary as well as the medieval Church, the unity of faith, and concord of peace. It was also a symbol of plenitude and fertility. The red juice symbolized the blood of Jesus Christ. It was used to treat heart tremor, stiffness, wounds, and spasms, as well as for fertility, eye and stomach ailments.
Saint Mary's thistle (Silybum marianum) was often identified with the Virgin Mary. It was thought that the root would help beget male children. It was used to treat serpent bites, ulcers, skin diesease, burns, bleeding, baldness, sciatica, and toothaches.
Stock-gilliflower (Mathiola incana) symbolized purity, love, and were thought to make a woman fruitful.
Wild orchid (Orchis mascula) was thought to be a powerful aphrodisiac. It was also believed that if a man ate the large part of the orchid's root he would beget male children. The lesser part would beget female children.

It is significant to know that this tapestry was created during a period of strong allegiance to the Cult of Mary. The image of the unicorn hortus conclusus expanded to popular depictions of Mary actually represented in the enclosed garden beside a unicorn touching its horn in later annunciation scenes of this secular type.

Iconography of the Day: Mousetrap

Artist:
Robert Campin and Workshop

Origin:
South Netherlandish, Tournai

Title:
Triptych with the Annunciation (also known as the "Merode Altarpiece")

Date:
ca. 1425–1430

Medium:
Oil on oak
Dimensions:
With triptych open: 25 3/8 x 46 3/8 in. (64.5 x 117.8 cm)
Central panel: 25 1/4 x 24 7/8 in. (64.1 x 63.2 cm)
Side panels: 25 3/8 x 10 3/4 in. (64.5 x 27.3 cm)

Current location:
The Cloisters Collection, Metropolitan Museum, NY

Acquired by the Met in 1956

Classification:
Painting-Panel

Accession Number:
56.70a–c

Excerpt from Meyer Schapiro, "'Muscipula Diaboli,' The Symbolism of the Mérode Altarpiece," repr. in Late Antique, Early Christian, and Mediaeval Art: p. 1: In the Mérode Altarpiece by the Master of Flémalle, the figure of Joseph appears in a wing beside the Annunciation as an artisan who fashions mousetraps.... [T]his detail of the mousetrap is more than a whimsical invention of the artist, suggested by Joseph's occupation. It has also a theological meaning that was present to the minds of Christians in the Middle Ages, and could be related by them to the sense of the main image of the triptych. St. Augustine, considering the redemption of man by Christ's sacrifice, employs the metaphor of the mousetrap to explain the necessity of the incarnation. The human flesh of Christ is a bait for the devil who, in seizing it, brings about his own ruin. "The devil exulted when Christ died, but by this very death of Christ the devil was vanquished, as if he had swallowed the bait in the mousetrap. He rejoiced in Christ's death, like a bailiff of death. What he rejoiced in was then his own undoing. The cross of the Lord was the devil's mousetrap; the bait by which he was caught was the Lord's death...."

The connection of the mousetrap in the picture with the theological metaphor is strengthened by the extraordinary way in which the artist has rendered the Annunciation in the neighboring panel. Instead of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, usual in images of the subject, he has represented a tiny naked figure of a child bearing a cross and descending toward the Virgin along the beams of light which have just passed through a window.... [T]he child was probably understood by the pious spectator as a symbol of the incarnation to come, just as the cross carried by this figure symbolized the Crucifixion and Redemption. Here, too, as in the Joseph scene, doctrine, metaphor, and reality are condensed in a single object. The beams of light penetrating the window are not simply a phenomenal detail of everyday life, which later Dutch artists were to represent more subtly and picturesquely in their genre paintings of a woman reading or sewing in her room (see centerpiece: Mary); the passage of the rays through the glass is a characteristic mediaeval image of the miraculous insemination and birth. In mediaeval poetry, in mystical literature, in hymns and mystery plays, in Latin and the vernacular, this simile recurs:

As a ray of the sun Through a window can pass. And yet no hurt is done The translucent glass So, but more subtly, Of a mother untried, God, the son of God, Comes forth from his bride.

Gerson's account of Joseph is not irrelevant to this detail of the Mérode panel. In the first place, he stresses Joseph's occupation as a carpenter ...[H]e disserts at length on the virtue of this humble craft which, together with the Virgin's labor as a weaver, assures his humility, his moral dignity, and livelihood:

"O what a marvel of deep humility --thus God's graciousness and humanity was such that he willed to be subject ot a carpenter, a charlier or woodcutter, and to a poor weaver or silk worker. [Joseph] devoted himself to work and toil, so as to be busied well and earn a just and honest living, and gain the blessing the Prophet speaks of when he says: 'Because you eat the toil of your hands (that is, what your hands earn) you are blessed and it will go well with you (Psalm 127).' Thus Joseph in youth took to carpentry, to making carts or sheds or windows or ships or houses, though he was of an honorable and noble line in Nazareth, contrary to the men and women who don't want to work and think it shameful or slavery, and so are often poor and evil in the world and more to God, for such persons are commonly slaves to all the vices..."