Thesis advisor: Margaret E. Guider / Thesis advisor: Michael Simone / Thesis (STL) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.

The decoration of the Amesbury Psalter, c.1250, is of immediate appeal because of its skilled execution and the richness of its decoration. It is, moreover, interesting iconographically; the Madonna and Child page, which presents Mary as the Virgo lactans, appears to be the earliest representation of this type of Madonna which is of English provenance. Although the Virgo lactans is the oldest image of Mary known to us, it has never been the popular image of the Virgin as has been, for example, the representation of the seated Hodegetria. This essay traces the history of the Virgo lactans to the cult of Isis in Egypt, explores the image of Mary expressed in theological writings through the centuries, and examines popular concepts of the Virgin portrayed in vernacular literature, and the various ways in which the Madonna and Child theme has been visually presented. While attempts to link the theological and/ or popular concepts of Mary, which obtained at a particular time and place, with specific images of the Virgin, are sometimes erroneous, there are a few examples of the Virgo lactans of late Romanesque and early Gothic Europe which suggest that they were taken over from the Byzantine world because of a new religious atmosphere. Evidence suggests that the appearance of the Madonna as the Virgo lactans in mid-thirteenth century England might have come about through the personality of Henry III whose piety seemed to be expressed frequently in the form of artistic representation. Furthermore, his interest in the Priory of Amesbury, which has been well documented, might suggest that the so-called Sarum Master, who created the Amesbury Psalter, was one of the many artists employed by Henry, whose royal patronage of art has not been equalled in the annals of English history. / Arts, Faculty of / Art History, Visual Art and Theory, Department of / Graduate

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This study explores several of the key factors that led to the visual amplification of Mary in western Europe during the early Middle Ages, with the art of the Ottonian Empire as its focus. Although the twelfth century has long been recognized as a high point for Marian imagery, the brief but rich period of artistic production during the Ottonian Empire (919-1024) yielded a range of images crucial for understanding the growing role of the Virgin in art and devotion. The approach for this work is necessarily thematic; the seeming randomness of Ottonian images of the Virgin has resulted in their exclusion from broad surveys organized by iconographic type or medium. While images of the Virgin in the Ottonian Empire do not form large groups of visually cohesive images, Ottonian manuscript illumination offers an intriguing view into the process by which Marian devotion coalesced in the west. The period has been thought to represent a lacuna for Marian exegesis -- between the Carolingian period and the twelfth century there were no new theological texts written on the Virgin in this region. There was, however, an intensification of interest in Mary in the liturgy, and as I demonstrate, an attempt to formulate exegesis through images. In studying the odd occurrences -- the lone tenth-century image of a Virgin in a Pentecost scene, or the earliest crowned Virgin outside of Italy -- this study locates these works within their liturgical and political environment through considerations of patronage and use.

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