The Next Picasso?

Manuscript Illumination with Adoration of the Magi

Personal Sketch of the Adoration of the Magi

The piece of art that I decided to look at whilst looking at the artwork from the 1000 to 1600 A.D. range was the Manuscript Illumination with Adoration of the Magi.  This piece of art was created by Master of James IV of Scotland, Gerard Horenbout, in his home country of the Netherlands in Ghent.  This work of art was made during the 16th century, ca. 1515-1525 A.D., and is mainly composed of a strong medium of tempera, ink, and shell gold on parchment.  The painting is currently residing in the MET Museum of Art in its original dimensions of 12 x 10 inches.

The 16th century was mainly dominated by a new found phase of realism, which began as a result of the south netherlandish culture expanding, and thus their painters began to paint scenes from the church in exquisite detail.  This image comes from a larger work of the Manuscript of Illumination, a work of over 200 painted images that were made into a devotional prayer book.  A guild of painters in the Netherlands worked for 2 years to finish this book, which depicted many of the most important biblical stories while superimposing them in the time period of the 16th century.

Upon first examination of the painting, the subject of this image seems to be the Virgin Mary and Jesus who are in the stable.  The Virgin Mary, being the mother of Christ, was adorned and glorified by the church as well as its catholic followers.  This meant that still during the 16th century she was an extremely popular figure to pray to when asking for strength and guidance.  These ideas are commonly seen when praying with rosary beads, as Hail Mary is said on the tenth bead, where she also makes an appearance in the Lord's prayer in the catholic church.

The main idea that is being depicted in this painting is mainly dealing with this birth of Christ in the stable, where Mary is visited by the three wise men who had traveled to Jerusalem guided by an angle in the sky, to deliver the gifts to their savior.  Besides the nativity scene, there is also the religious ideas of adoration, meaning deep love, as scene through the King of Judea washing the new born Christ's feet.  But when looking at the type of painting it is very traditional in that is is focuses on religious realism, meaning that it was bringing the metaphysical world into fruition, as it depicts these stories as if they were happening in the 16th century. 

When looking at this painting in more detail and further in depth, many of the smaller details are brought to the light.  Speaking of light, lighting is a very important when looking at the Virgin Mary in this painting.  The reason she is so important in this frame is that she is shown with a halo around her head.  The halo is seen as a crown of light, these light crowns have long been used in a wide variety of religions, that a specific individual is holy or a great sacred figure.  This is justified in the context of this painting because it is the mother of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is a female saint in the catholic church.  So this lighting technique, while showing religious significance, also highlights the focal points of the image.  The brighter lighting and color contrasts draw the viewers eyes toward the center of the image, this intentional focal point of the center of the image, which also characterizes the nativity scene highlights the painters motifs and ideas about society.  He seems to be making a statement that amidst this busy urban city, one must still accept Jesus in their everyday lives, and the Lord should never be forgotten. 

In addition to lighting influencing the central idea of the importance of God in everyday life, this idea is backed up also through a film theory called frame within a frame.  This means that in a frame of a movie, the subject is surrounded by opposing objects which in turn draw their eyes toward the main focal point in the center.  So this theory also supports this claim of the importance of church as it seems that urban life is framing beliefs, showing that everything revolves around the church because it is at the center of everything.

Lastly when looking at this image the purpose is very important especially when depicting religious values of the 16th century.  During the late 15th through the end of the 16th century, the church had some of the highest authority and power in both the new and old world.  After the colonization of the Americas the church sent over thousands of missionaries to convert the natives to Christianity to appease the old world as well as the Vatican.  As well as excessive expansion of the church which highlighted their immense power, at this time they were extremely corrupt in their religious practice.  They would use pardons, paying large amounts of money in order to get into heaven, to earn money for themselves and stealing due to excessive amounts of greed and power lust.  The church was so excessively powerful that they almost controlled every aspect of people's lives, just like an authoritarian dictatorship.  

So the purpose of this image could be to highlight the dichotomy of the time period, in that the painter could be showing how the church is a wonderful institution which should be remembered throughout you everyday lives.  And that the stories that were recorded in the bible had a direct message , and these messages should be lived by in order to become stronger followers of Christ in a secular world.  Or the painter could be making the notion that the church is a superimposed, fraudulent system of scam artists who force you to give up your money in order to gain a spot in heaven.  In this lens the painter would want the audience to see that the church forced itself into the center of our lives, the center of the frame, as a means of controlling our actions in society to reflect what they desire; power, money, and followers.  Just food for thought.

Works Consulted:
The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/468254.

Cavins, Emily. “Why Pray to Mary and the Saints?” The Great Adventure Catholic Bible Study, 10 July 2017, biblestudyforcatholics.com/catholics-pray-mary-saints/.

“Halo (Religious Iconography).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Nov. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_(religious_iconography).

“A Timeline of Catholic Church History: 1 - 500 A.D.” Catholic Bridge: Helping Evangelicals and Catholics Understand What the Chruch Teaches, catholicbridge.com/catholic/timeline-of-catholic-church.php.