The Madonna Enthroned.— In its early conception the subject depicts the "Queen of Heaven" (Regina Caqi). seated in the sky, surrounded by the saints and angels. An early example is Simone's picture in the Siena Coun cil Hall; the Virgin in Campo Santo, Pisa, is another. As Queen of Heaven, having homage paid her, she is crowned first then veiled. In this conception of the subject the throne is supposed to be a heavenly throne and symbolic of dignity and divinity. Mary is usually garbed in a red tunic as symbol of love and with a blue mantle signifying Heaven. The Child is vested in a tunic till the 15th century, but then generally appears undraped. The Babe generally holds up a hand in blessing, but in the 6th century mosaic of the enthroned Ma donna in the Basilica of San Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, Mary raises her hand in blessing. The first human figures we see around the throne are the saints, especially John Baptist, the Apostles and the patrons of the particular church to which the work of art is dedicated. Saint John is represented as a child generally bearing a reed cross; at times, as messenger, he has wings. Later patriarchs, prophets, sibyls are in attendance about the throne. Well known examples are very many and but few can he mentioned. That of Fra Bartolommeo (Baccio della Porta, 1469-1570) is in the Pitti Gallery, Florence; Andrea del Sarto's Madonna di San Francesco in the Uffizi Gallery there stands on a pedestal throne with harpies at its corners (hence sometimes termed °Madonna of the Harpies”. Luini's Madonna in the Brera, Milan, is seated on a coping. Peru ginp's Madonna (Vatican, Rome) is one of this master's best works and depicts the Virgin seated on a carved and inlaid architectural marble throne. Pinturiccio's Madonna in the chapel of Saint Andrea, Perugia, has the child Saint John standing at the throne's foot. Raphael's Ansidei Madonna (London National Gallery) is reading a book while Saint Nicholas and Saint John Baptist are in attendance at the two sides. The English government paid f72,000 in 1885 for this wonderful painting. Other enthroned Madonnas of Raphael are the Madonna of Saint Anthony (owned privately) and the Baldacchino Madonna (Pitta Gallery, Florence). Among the early exponents of the enthroned depiction were Vivarirti, Bellini and Cima; Girolamo dai Libri's altar-piece in San Giorgio Maggiore, Verona, is noteworthy, and Venice is perhaps richest in Madonna creations. Later masters to paint this subject were Titian, Tintorctto and Veronese. Of the. early type Cima's picture in the Venice Academy takes about first position; the Madonna is seated on a marble throne having a pillared portico. Palma's beautiful altar-piece in Vicenza is note worthy among enthroned Madonnas. Bellini excelled in this style and the examples deserve their renown. Ruskin calls his painting in the Venice Academy "One of the greatest pictures ever painted in Christendom in her central art power? The Virgin is accompanied by three saints on each side and three choristers below. His Frari Madonna (Venice) has three com partments, the Virgin occupying the central one. His San Zaccaria Madonna, in spite of its fine execution and beauty of conception and group ing, was created when the artist was over 80 years old. Next we come (late in the 15th century) to Giorgione (who lived only 34 years) who has two Madonnas, one in the Madrid Gallery, the other in Castel Franco. In the latter the throne is exceptionally high, the upper step being above the heads of the ac companying Saints Liberate and Francis. This shows great depth and refinement of feeling in the drooping head and dreaming eyes. While the queenly aspect of these Italian pic tures is never displayed with a crown as is frequent on the mosaics dating from the 8th to the 11th century, except in the pictures by Giovanni da Murano and Carlo Crivelli (Vene tian school), the Holy Virgin in German art is frequently crowned when enthroned, as in Holbein's Madonna at Darmstadt, that by Van Eyck at Frankfort and that by Memling at Bruges, and Schongauer's at Munich. In the enthroned Madonna of Qaintin Matsys in the Berlin Gallery the Virgin is kissing the Child and the northern tendency is vividly displayed in the accessory of the stand containing food. Of modern artists whose enthroned Madonna creations are worthy of mention should be cited Bouguereau, Ittenbach, etc.
The Annunciation.— The angel's announce ment to the Spiritual Bride is a subject as prolifically depicted in Christian art as any other. It was a theme displayed everywhere,
in every village, street, church or dwelling, in painting or carving. Early we find it in the mosaics, as on the arch of the Santa Maria Maggiore. The attitudes of the Virgin differ in periods or in accordance with the individual conception of the artists. In some the angel stands before the young virgin who kneels in pious submission, or the angel kneels in some; or again, as in Giotto's work, in Padua, both kneel. Later artists picture Our Lady in the Annunciation often as a crowned queen, be jeweled, but in modern work the Virgin and surroundings are treated with simplicity and mystic symbolism is given to the subject. While it is usual that but one announcing angel appears on the scene, Andrea del Sarto, Tintoretto, Francia and Fra Bartolommeo give an angelic choir. Usually the Holy Dove is seen flying toward Mary from the Father. Pisa nello's Annunciation in Verona pictures the most beautiful innocence in girlish beauty.. Beautiful purity is expressed in the works of Fra Angelico; that in the Oratorio del Gesii, at Cortona, accompanied by the colonnade atilt scene of Eve's expulsion as accessories, is ex tremely impressive. In the Uffizi Gallery is a Boticelli Annunciation depicting the angel pay ing the deepest obeisance at Mary's feet while the Holy Maid stretches out her hands in sur prised humility. Other well-known Annuncia tions are by Simone Martin in the Uffizi, Fra Filippo Lippi, Carlo Crivelli (National Gallery, London), where the scene is produced in a surrounding of magnificent architectural deco ration, while Perugino (in Montefalco picture) shows utter simplicity. Paolo Veronese depicts fear as the Virgin shrinks back at the message. Northerncreations reveal their source by bringing in such accessories as a spinning wheel, couches, etc. Jan van Eyck places the Holy Virgin by an altar in an alcove with an open book to rest her arm on, her face averted toward the heavenly messenger, who is in a cope and carries a sceptre. Albert Diirer's series of the life of the Virgin depicts in the Annunciation Mary as a German Hausfrau, surrounded by many architectural accessories. In the National Gallery, London, we find Rosetti's work affording very simple treatment in modern depiction, and Burne-Jones gives the scene in a finely constructed painting.
The Nativity.— In the works of the masters en this subject we find Mary beside her Son's cradle in the act of adoration. Even the early pictures show angels attendant but the veil found in earlier depiction is discarded later. The scene is cast in a cave or cleft in a rock generally transformed into a stable, but there are variations to suit the conceptions of the different masters. In Santa Maria, Trastevere, is a mosaic displaying Mary reposing on a couch in the cleft of a rock. Giotto's school makes the scene a stable of wooden construc tion; some place the theme in the open with perhaps a ruin or fragment of some structure as accessory. The swaddled Babe of the Italian school is, of course, the bambino of that country. Orcagna (church of Assisi) places Mary sitting beside the cradle arranging the covering, while Giotto has the Child before her while she is seated on the ground. Peru gino's Nativities (in Perugia and Rome) dis play Mary and Joseph kneeling in adoration of the Babe with angels present. Well known is the Nativity in the London National Gallery by Piero della Francesca (unfinished) in which the Child is lying on the ground with the mother kneeling beside while angels are play ing on lutes and singing. That depiction by Luca Signorelli in the same place also shows the Infant.on the ground, Mary kneeling beside Him. In the same gallery we have Botticelli's depiction of the scene enacted in a shed, and Carlo Crivelli uses the same surroundings. In Luini's picture an angel holds the Child while Mary kneels with folded arms, her face one of the most beautiful of any of the Madonnas. In most of the above and in others shepherds are portrayed in more or less prox imity. In some cases the painting is properly called °Adoration of the Shepherds' on account of their close presence to the Virgin and Child, but later works generally place them in the background. The illumination of the scene fre quently (with Rembrandt, Correggio, etc.) emanates from the glowing rays passing from the Holy Babe.