A Theological Reflection
The Madonna with Canon van der Paele
Musee communal des Beaux Arts, Bruges
Mary Portrayed in Art
by Eamon R. Carroll, O. Carm.
Four hundred years after Van Dyck's birth, 1599-1641, the Royal Academy in London mounted a major exhibit about him - as he worked in London to be the 'King's Painter in Ordinary.' He was only 20 when he first visited England in 1620, and already enjoyed an international reputation. In 1632 he returned to England and became the chosen painter of the royal court. He died at 42 in London on the baptismal day of his daughter Justiniana and is buried in St. Paul's Cathedral. Born in Antwerp, he was much influenced by Rubens and became his chief assistant. A recent book about Anthony Van Dyck talks about his devout family, and tells how 'he used his precocious artistic gifts to show devotion to Our Lady.' (Tablet, Ag 28,99, p.1168)
Shortly before Van Dyck another flemish master Jan van Eyck (1390-1441) gave us what is regared as one of the most important works of the later Gothic period, "The Annunciation," it is treasured in the National Gallery of Art in Washington. with an incredible wealth of symbolic deatail, whick in no way takes away from the simplicity and beauty of the event, the artist show Gabrial, splendidly attired, announcing the good news to the blue-clad Virgin at prayer. An intriging touch to the piece are the opening Latin words of the angelic salutation which are woven into the compostion Ave gratia plena (Hail, full of grace), and upside down - so God can see them from above- the blessed Mary's reply: Ecce ancilla Domini (Behold the handmaid of the Lord).
The Shrine of Mary Queen of the Universe in Orlando, Florida, has just commissioned and received a magnificent and moving sculpture of the Blessed Virgin and the infant Jesus, slightly larger than life. Our Lady is seated, on a rock: the serene young Virgin Mary's left arm holds the child snuggling against his mother, his arm raised as if to bless us all. The Blessed Virgin's right hand reaches down to the border of her cloak, and the mantle is pinned at her throat and crowned by her veil. One of the traditional representations of the Mother of Jesus is as the 'mantle Virgin,' with all her children, the entire Church, indeed the whole world, gathered under her loving and secure protection. In the new statue in Orlando the artist has conveyed that same understanding of Mary's affectionate and effective care in the holy Virgin's billowing cloak.
The sculpture is the American Jill Burkee, the result of over a years work in Pietrasanta, Italy, with the same Carrara marble Michelangelo used. As she describes her art, the task was to free from the marble (a ten-ton block) the figures of the baby Jesus and his mother the simple maid of Nazareth who is also Queen of the Universe. The statue had been solemnly blessed Sunday November 21, 1999, Feast of Christ the King and ancient feast of the Presentation of Mary in the Temple.
Fr. Eamon R. Carroll, O. Carm.,S.T.D., is Professor emeritus at Loyola University of Chicago and on the faculty of the International Marian Research Institute, the Marian Library, University of Dayton, Ohio.
This article first appeared in Our Lady's Digest, September- October 1977.
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