The Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Re-posted from 22 August 2020 

Three framed prints hang on the wall of our living room. They have been there several years and depict the Annunciation, the Nativity and the Flight into Egypt. They were given by a person unable to specify the name of the painter and it was only a few days ago that I happened by chance to be browsing online through paintings by the great Fra Angelico. To my amazement, I recognised one of the paintings as his and located the other two after a little research. 

Laudetur Jesus Christus et Maria Immaculata!

I offer the following post in honour of Maria Immaculata, on this feast of her Immaculate Heart. The three images are presented with my own annotations. I also pray that the Immaculata will watch over and protect EB whose birthday it is today: ad multos annos !

The Annunciation: setting

The first print is of the second image in a panel (shown below) forming part of the Armadio degli Argenti ("Wardrobe of the Silversmiths"), a series of tempera on panel paintings completed by Fra Angelico 1451-53. Designed for the Santissima Annunziata, a Florentine church founded in 1250,  the Armadio illustrates the life of Christ, culminating with His Passion, Death, Resurrection, the General Judgement  and the Coronation of Our Lady. 

Armadio degli Argenti. Fra Angelico. 1451-53.  Museo nazionale di San Marco in Florence

The image above shows the first nine of the Armadio series and depicts: 

 Ezekiel's Vision,                   the Annunciation,                             the Nativity

The Circumcision,                the Adoration of the Magi,               the Presentation of Christ in the Temple

The Flight into Egypt,           the Massacre of the Innocents          the Christ Child in the Temple.

                  

The Annunciation: a short commentary

The Annunciation. Fra Angelico. 1451-53.  Museo nazionale di San Marco in Florence

The painting features two scrolls with excerpts from Sacred Scripture:

ecce virgo concipiet, et pariet filium, et vocabit[ur] nomen ejus Emmanuel

Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel.[This verse is taken from Is vii. 14. Quære reference to 'Isa. VI. C' - presumably Caput VI]

This is the prophecy of Isaias, made some 700 years before the Word was made flesh. 

There then follow the words uttered by Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary:

Ecce concipies in utero, et paries filium, et vocabis nomen ejus Jesum

Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus. [Luc. i. 31]

The parallels are striking: ecce, concipiet/concipies, pariet/paries, filium, vocabitur nomen eius/vocabis nomen eius, Emmanuel/Jesum. 'Emmanuel' means 'God with us' and 'Jesus' means 'God saves (us).'

Dominating the composition are two figures. Mary, who will one day be hymned as the Queen of Angels, is kneeling on the ground. Perhaps she was kneeling in prayer whilst, according to an ancient tradition, she meditated upon the prophecy of Isaias.  Her attention is now completely focused on the second figure, the Angel Gabriel ('Fortitudo Dei', the Strength of God). Despite his lofty status and his role as God's own envoy, he kneels before the future Theotokos ('God-bearer') and the Regina Cæli (Queen of Heaven). She listens attentively to his announcement. His finger points Heavenward and we catch sight of a dove descending towards Mary. We recall his words:

Spiritus Sanctus superveniet in te, et virtus Altissimi obumbrabit tibi. Ideoque et quod nascetur ex te sanctum, vocabitur Filius Dei.

The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. [Luke. i. 35]

The Holy Ghost is at the high point of a line dividing the composition into two almost perfectly symmetrical halves. This symmetry suggests a mirror and Mary, the Speculum Justitiae (Mirror of Justice) is also a mirror in other ways. She has been compared to a mirror of the Holy and Undivided Trinity; for she is the daughter of the Father, the spouse of the Holy Ghost and the mother of the Word. Kneeling in humility, she reflects this and all other virtues super-abundantly. Facing Gabriel, Fortitudo Dei, she is the mulier fortis (strong and valiant woman) par excellence (Ecclesiasticus xxvi. 2).

The setting is altogether ascetic in its simplicity and spareness. Fra Angelico, a Domican friar, was himself an ascetic and much of his work reflects the plain architecture and decor of the convent in Florence where he painted many of his works. Adding depth to the composition, the linear perspective has for its vanishing point the end of a 'strait and narrow' corridor, similar to the corridors in Fra Angelico's convent of San Marco.

The Flight into Egypt

This is a print of the seventh image in the Armadio panel (see above).

The Flight into Egypt. Fra Angelico. 1451-53.  Museo nazionale di San Marco in Florence

The texts from Sacred Scripture in this image are as follows:

Ecce elongavi fugiens; et mansi in solitudine.

Lo, I have gone far off flying away; and I abode in the wilderness.[Ps. liv. 8]

This is a Psalm of David (c. 1000 years before Christ): "A prayer of a just man under persecution from the wicked. It agrees to Christ persecuted by the Jews, and betrayed by Judas."[Douay-Rheims]

The bottom text refers to the instruction given to St Joseph by an angel:

Surge, et accipe puerum, et matrem ejus, et fuge in Ægyptum

Arise, and take the child and his mother, and fly into Egypt: [Matt. ii. 13]

With light coming from the left, the compositional lines and arrangement form an arrow pointing to the right, achieving a dynamic effect of movement. The shapes are solidly three-dimensional and depth is suggested by the diminishing proportions in a simple perspective and the slight transition from darker to lighter.

The Blessed Mother cradles baby Jesus tenderly as she gazes into the distance, pondering all these things in her heart.

The Nativity: Setting

This image comes from a different setting, being a fresco on the wall of Cell 5 of the Convento di San Marco in Florence. The Convent, dating from the 12th century, was renovated for the Dominican Order around 1440 and it seems this fresco was completed shortly after this date. Most of the cells have frescoes by Fra Angelico.

The Nativity. Fra Angelico. 1440-41. Fresco, 193 x 164 cm. Convento di San Marco, Florence. 

The Nativity: A short commentary

Fra Angelico painted the newborn baby naked and luminous, following the vision of the mystic St. Bridget of Sweden (c1303-1373). His halo bears the cross that he was Himself to bear before His salvific death on Calvary. The haloes are painted in two dimensions, representing the traditional format  in contrast to the three dimensional versions that the artist tried later in life (see above).  The Baby is lying on straw and His eyes are fixed upon His mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, who tenderly returns His gaze : Ad Jesum per Mariam...

Four figures kneel in adoration before the Christ child, Who is the Word made flesh. Apart from His mother, we see His foster-father, St Joseph. Behind Mary is St Catherine of Alexandria (martyred c 305 AD) and in the foreground to our right is St Peter the Martyr (1206-1252).

Saint Catherine was a virgin, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the emperor Maxentius. She became a Christian around the age of 14, converted hundreds of people to Christianity and was martyred around the age of 18. Saint Peter Martyr was a Dominican friar (like Fra Angelico) as well as a priest. He was a celebrated preacher who was killed by an assassin sent by the Cathars. He is buried in Milan, in the Church of Sant'Eustorgio. According to tradition, he conversed with St Catherine.

In the background, a wooden structure has been added to a cave to create the stable where Christ was born. The ox and the ass are clearly visible next to the manger.

Cognovit bos possessorem suum, et asinus præsepe domini sui; Israel autem me non cognovit, et populus meus non intellexit.

The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel hath not known me, and my people hath not understood.[Isaiah i. 3]

Under the Law, the Jews were forbidden from mingling with the Gentiles. The ox (a castrated bull) was a clean animal but the ass was not; accordingly, the ox represented the circumcised Jews and the ass the Gentiles.

Non arabis in bove simul et asino.

Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together.[Deut. xxii. 10]

The Incarnation was to change all this:

Non est Judæus, neque Græcus : non est servus, neque liber : non est masculus, neque femina. Omnes enim vos unum estis in Christo Jesu.

There is neither Jew nor Greek: there is neither bond nor free: there is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Si autem vos Christi, ergo semen Abrahæ estis, secundum promissionem hæredes

And if you be Christ's, then are you the seed of Abraham, heirs according to the promise.[Gal, iii.28-29].

In the celestial vault over the scene are four winged angels. Like the kneeling figures below, their hands joined in prayer: silent adoration, contemplation, wonder and  joyous peace.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam