Magnificat December Issue. 2.12.2011 www.magnificat.net/english/index.aspMore
Magnificat December Issue.
2.12.2011 www.magnificat.net/english/index.asp
2.12.2011 www.magnificat.net/english/index.asp
Magnificat: " Artwork of the front cover: Madonna and Child, Marianne Stokes (1855-1927), Wolverhampton Art Gallery, West Midlands, UK. © Bridgeman Giraudon
Born in southern Austria, Marianne Preindlsberger (1855-1927) married in 1884 the English landscape painter Adrian Stokes and from then on bore the name of her husband. This Madonna was painted circa 1907, when Marianne resided by the Adriatic …More
Magnificat: " Artwork of the front cover: Madonna and Child, Marianne Stokes (1855-1927), Wolverhampton Art Gallery, West Midlands, UK. © Bridgeman Giraudon
Born in southern Austria, Marianne Preindlsberger (1855-1927) married in 1884 the English landscape painter Adrian Stokes and from then on bore the name of her husband. This Madonna was painted circa 1907, when Marianne resided by the Adriatic Sea, on the Dalmatian coast (present-day Croatia). The artist chose as her model a young woman she had met in a village. She had her pose dressed in a traditional Dalmatian costume, one that betrothed couples of noble extraction wore at their engagement celebration. In the background, interlacing thorn branches point to the crown of thorns that will surround the head of Jesus as well as the Immaculate Heart of his Mother. Rising through these spiky vines, stems of Garden Angelica (Angelica archangelica), formerly called “the Holy Ghost plant,” recall the conception of the divine Savior. This medicinal herb, once used as a remedy against snake bites, is well-suited to the one whose heel is destined to crush the malevolent head of the ancient Tempter. It is also said that the honey-like fragrance of Angelica evokes the marvelous and inimitable aroma of sanctity that the Mother of God released at her Dormition.
Critics have objected to how Marianne Stokes depicts the Virgin Mary with a fixed gaze, lacking in emotion, as if the artist placed resignation and submission at the pinnacle of feminine Christian virtue. But no, what we are rather offered here for contemplation is the serene face of the one for whom and through whom God has done wondrous deeds, and who “kept all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Lk 2: 19).
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Born in southern Austria, Marianne Preindlsberger (1855-1927) married in 1884 the English landscape painter Adrian Stokes and from then on bore the name of her husband. This Madonna was painted circa 1907, when Marianne resided by the Adriatic Sea, on the Dalmatian coast (present-day Croatia). The artist chose as her model a young woman she had met in a village. She had her pose dressed in a traditional Dalmatian costume, one that betrothed couples of noble extraction wore at their engagement celebration. In the background, interlacing thorn branches point to the crown of thorns that will surround the head of Jesus as well as the Immaculate Heart of his Mother. Rising through these spiky vines, stems of Garden Angelica (Angelica archangelica), formerly called “the Holy Ghost plant,” recall the conception of the divine Savior. This medicinal herb, once used as a remedy against snake bites, is well-suited to the one whose heel is destined to crush the malevolent head of the ancient Tempter. It is also said that the honey-like fragrance of Angelica evokes the marvelous and inimitable aroma of sanctity that the Mother of God released at her Dormition.
Critics have objected to how Marianne Stokes depicts the Virgin Mary with a fixed gaze, lacking in emotion, as if the artist placed resignation and submission at the pinnacle of feminine Christian virtue. But no, what we are rather offered here for contemplation is the serene face of the one for whom and through whom God has done wondrous deeds, and who “kept all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Lk 2: 19).
www.magnificat.net/english/popup_couv.asp
One more comment from Irapuato
Magnificat: The art essay of the month, Fra Angelico, "Stories of St. Nicholas"
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