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Mary: Icon. I love Marian art, the stranger the better. This would be the case even if I wasn't Catholic -- in fact, one of the powerful mysteries that drew me to Catholicism in the first place was Marian art and iconography.
I stumbled upon this little painting in a shop in Texas. It's an old style Russian icon painting, only about 4" x 4.5". I'm supposing it's Eastern Orthodox, but the overlap with Spanish colonial Marian art is remarkable. The color scheme is different, as is the architecture, but I thought immediately of the following paintings when I saw it.
Nuestra Señora del Pilar / Our Lady of the Pillar with a
Franciscan and Dominican Monk (Peru/Lima, 17th
century). Thoma Foundation. Link here. It's as if Mary and the Christ Child are emerging from a lampshade, to
the astonishment of the monks.
Our Lady of the Rosary of Pomata (Cuzco, Peru, late 17th or 18th century). The Marilynn and Carl Thoma Collection. Saw this at the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, Texas. The winged faces looking up seem like angelic versions of harpies.
Our Lady of Cocharcas (Peru, 1751). Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, Texas. A touch of Jonathan Swift's 1726/1735 work Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships? The Colossus of Rhodes? It's also like a more ordered vision of Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Bruegel dreamscapes. Thoughts?
Today's Rune: The Mystery Rune.
4 comments:
Definitely unusual. I like this style.
Trust you to bring some interesting to my attention, something that I had never previously even considered. The seemingly universal cone from which Mary seems to be emerging is fascinating, like she is topping a Christmas tree or something.
Erik-I too love religious iconery-especially anything to do with Mary. I have never heard it referred to as Marian! As a catholic, I adore all things Mary and keep a statue of her on my make up table. Where would we be without her-or all Mother's for that matter?!
Thoughts? --> :)
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