Venerating The Mystery The Virgin And Child, A 13Th Century Icon Essay, Research Paper

The Fogg Museum’s icon “The Virgin and Child” captures and venerates the mystery of the Madonna in a way that powerfully awes even the modern viewer. The work entrances the viewer with mesmeric textures and shapes while removing him from the holy and unknowable religious space it creates. The resulting tension creates a powerful and dynamic contradiction that engulfs the viewer and evokes the eternal devotional mystery.

Immediately upon encountering the icon, The Virgin’s eyes come piercingly to the fore. Exactly centered under a protruding gilded arch and spanning the vertical axis, the eyes are the center of sets of inter-linked spirals. The intensity of the frank and direct gaze must be met. The Virgin’s face is created from broad and distinct strokes recalling the organic textures of Van Gogh and contrasting with the more geometric and gilded shapes of her clothing. The brushwork moves through supremely controlled and ever tightening spirals of changing direction from the dark curve of the jaw to the rose colored center of the cheek to the dark and barely visible center of the eye (Figure 2, Feature 1). The motion thus created evokes a mesmerist’s disk, a hypnotic spinning spiral. The rendering of the shadows around her eye hints at the kohl rimmed eyes of an Egyptian hieroglyph, an ancient and mysterious goddess (Figure 2, Feature 2). Mary’s power, her steady gaze, is unquestionable.

The shapes of the piece serve to emphasize her enigmatic power. The clothing is composed of angular and geometrically gilded polygons. The sharp lines clearly show gravity, tension, and the folding nature of the cloth (Figure 2, Feature 3). Conversely, the flesh is smooth and flowing, free from physical forces, sacred. Her face is at the apex of the ungilded space and is surrounded by an approximately 3/8 inch raised golden arch (Figure 1, Feature 1). She is the spatial center of a field of golden energy. The virgin’s long hands are almost abstracted and imply an other-ness, a slightly alien characteristic. She literally radiates power, but it is otherworldly, not human.

The viewer while entranced, is not meant to become one with Mary, but rather to be excluded from the central mystery. The child and the posture of the embrace exclude the viewer from the holy space, inspiring humility in the face of grace. The child looks at Mary raptly, enthralled, and even a bit cross-eyed in his focus. Their four eyes are nearly aligned (Figure 2 Feature 4). This strong line emphasizes their link. His attention is exclusively for the Holy Mother. Nothing so profane as a viewer can interrupt it. The Virgin holds the back of her hands towards the viewer. The posture is not one of defensiveness, but is one of inwardness. The long linear brushstrokes of the Virgin’s curve and flow to make a space of self and child (Figure 1 Feature 2). This exclusion is humbling. Jesus holds a tiny scroll centered over Mary’s heart. There is a special knowledge between them not shared by others. The viewer is not invited into the space, into the focus, into the knowledge. Mary is to be worshipped, not understood. The mystery is to be contemplated in awe, not analyzed.

Yet for all its hauteur, the icon retains a warmth and serenity that humanizes the scene and allows the viewer to identify. A wine colored wash softly frames the piece top and bottom (Figure 1 Feature 4). The warm, rich burgundy color seems faded and organic, and creates a soft place to contrast with the aggression of the gilding. Wear and age are evident in the gilt field, reducing the harshness of the Virgin’s radiance. The edges of the piece have softened and rounded, become inviting. The icon as an object allows access to the scene. That the object itself creates warmth emphasizes a key point: the link between Virgin and Child is one of absolute love as well as absolute focus. The devotion of the mother, the devotion of the child is the devotion seen in any truly loving mother and loved child. The viewer has seen this picture a thousand times before. That these deities love is not alien. Thus the viewer is engaged on a deep emotional level with the mother-child bond.

The Icon of the Virgin and Child leaves an indelible impression. It creates a sense of authentic awe. Held rapt by the hypnotic textures, the viewer is confronted by radiant and mysterious power. Humbled by this power, and excluded from it, the viewer identifies with its warmth and love. The tensions of exclusion and identity produce a paradox that must be confronted. That this paradox is so compelling to the modern viewer, leaves one wondering about the scale of a 13th Century viewer’s awe. Perhaps the icon’s holy space is timeless.