DOI Artikel:
Miodońska, Barbara: Rex regum i rex Poloniae w dekoracji malarskiej Graduału Jana Olbrachta i Pontyfikału Erazma Ciołka: z zagadnień ikonografii władzy królewskiej w sztuce polskiej wieku XVI
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26594#0229
SUMMARY
g. The Introit.
.,Safte SawcfH V'nrpns. em.ru pnetpetn Vtegem"
(Part HI, fofio ÓS'*) iffs. 18, 20 and 74 -86
The picture of the Afn/Zer amZcżn 50/e with the infant precedes the versicles of the
hymn of Sedulius, used as the introit for the Masses common to the feasts of the Moth-
er of God. The miniature is obviously modelled on the illustrations to Chapter 12
of the Apocalypse of St John, showing Mary within a refulgent mandorla borne above
the sea, between the earth and the golden heaven. In this manner the cosmic features
of the phenomenon are emphasized, in accordance with the ancient astral sources
of the myth of the apocalyptic Woman. The "Woman clothed with the sun" is at the
same time the Virgin of the Rosary. The Child in her arms is giving a rosary to the
kneeling royal donor, identified by the arms of the Kingdom of Poland.
The "Woman clothed with the sun", the Late Medieval representation of Mary,
in which exegesis contrived to place the whole of the dogmatic Marian problems, is
found in the pages of the Gradual by reason of its great popularity towards the end
of the fifteenth century, also in Polish art. The edicts and indulgences issued by Pope
Sixtus IV (1478 and 1479) linked the representation of the Afn/Zer In. 50/e with the
cult of the Immaculate Conception, and this endowed the old iconographic type with
a new actuality. In Poland the propagators of the cult of the AfM/Zer Zn 50/e were car-
dinal Zbigniew Oleśnicki, Bishop of Cracow (fl455) and also the Friars Minor of the
Observance (ordo/rużrZs wrZnornm de observan^m), whose first convent in Poland was
founded in Cracow in 1454 when John of Capestrano was invited to visit the city by
King Casimir IV Jagiellon.
The "Woman clothed with the sun", i. e. with the divinity of the Most High,
the Mother of God, free from sin and death, the most excellent of His creatures, was
honoured as PegZnn coe/Z, Domma manJ/ (the words of the prayer for the indulgence
of Sixtus-IV), the Regent of Christ the King, filling her office also by right of inherit-
ance as the inheritrix of the royal tradition of the House of David. (This theme is taken
up by the illuminations accompanying the texts for the ceremonies for the Birth of
Our Lady in Part II of John Albert's Gradual, folio 148). This is one of the most
striking examples in the culture of the Late Middle Ages of the transference of con-
ceptions connected with the institution of earthly kingship to the affairs of the King-
dom of Heaven.
The linking of the type of the Afn/Zer Zn 50/e with the legend of the Hra. coe/Z
became a further reason why the "Woman clothed with the sun" appeared in the role
of the patroness of rulers and their intercessor. This is found Inter a/Za in the minia-
tures in prayerbooks destined for the use of rulers and in works of art connected with
the Emperor Maximilian 1.
A picture of the Afa/Zer Zn 50/e with features of the Virgin of the Rosary being adored
by John Albert opens that part of the Gradual devoted not only to the cult of the
Virgin but also containing special services, including the Pro reg'e, prayers to avert
personal disasters — sin and sickness — and public disasters -— pestilences and the
danger of a Turkish invasion (the Office Contro pagano5) from the King and his
people. This danger hung over Poland for the first time in all its terrors after the de-
feat of John Albert's expedition to Moldavia, which shattered the plans for taking
the Black Sea ports of Kilyos and Belgorod from the Turks.
The decoration of the outer margin of the page with the introit "Ca/ve śancta Pa-
ren.5" complements the ideological content of the miniature. It was built up on the prin-
Z23
g. The Introit.
.,Safte SawcfH V'nrpns. em.ru pnetpetn Vtegem"
(Part HI, fofio ÓS'*) iffs. 18, 20 and 74 -86
The picture of the Afn/Zer amZcżn 50/e with the infant precedes the versicles of the
hymn of Sedulius, used as the introit for the Masses common to the feasts of the Moth-
er of God. The miniature is obviously modelled on the illustrations to Chapter 12
of the Apocalypse of St John, showing Mary within a refulgent mandorla borne above
the sea, between the earth and the golden heaven. In this manner the cosmic features
of the phenomenon are emphasized, in accordance with the ancient astral sources
of the myth of the apocalyptic Woman. The "Woman clothed with the sun" is at the
same time the Virgin of the Rosary. The Child in her arms is giving a rosary to the
kneeling royal donor, identified by the arms of the Kingdom of Poland.
The "Woman clothed with the sun", the Late Medieval representation of Mary,
in which exegesis contrived to place the whole of the dogmatic Marian problems, is
found in the pages of the Gradual by reason of its great popularity towards the end
of the fifteenth century, also in Polish art. The edicts and indulgences issued by Pope
Sixtus IV (1478 and 1479) linked the representation of the Afn/Zer In. 50/e with the
cult of the Immaculate Conception, and this endowed the old iconographic type with
a new actuality. In Poland the propagators of the cult of the AfM/Zer Zn 50/e were car-
dinal Zbigniew Oleśnicki, Bishop of Cracow (fl455) and also the Friars Minor of the
Observance (ordo/rużrZs wrZnornm de observan^m), whose first convent in Poland was
founded in Cracow in 1454 when John of Capestrano was invited to visit the city by
King Casimir IV Jagiellon.
The "Woman clothed with the sun", i. e. with the divinity of the Most High,
the Mother of God, free from sin and death, the most excellent of His creatures, was
honoured as PegZnn coe/Z, Domma manJ/ (the words of the prayer for the indulgence
of Sixtus-IV), the Regent of Christ the King, filling her office also by right of inherit-
ance as the inheritrix of the royal tradition of the House of David. (This theme is taken
up by the illuminations accompanying the texts for the ceremonies for the Birth of
Our Lady in Part II of John Albert's Gradual, folio 148). This is one of the most
striking examples in the culture of the Late Middle Ages of the transference of con-
ceptions connected with the institution of earthly kingship to the affairs of the King-
dom of Heaven.
The linking of the type of the Afn/Zer Zn 50/e with the legend of the Hra. coe/Z
became a further reason why the "Woman clothed with the sun" appeared in the role
of the patroness of rulers and their intercessor. This is found Inter a/Za in the minia-
tures in prayerbooks destined for the use of rulers and in works of art connected with
the Emperor Maximilian 1.
A picture of the Afa/Zer Zn 50/e with features of the Virgin of the Rosary being adored
by John Albert opens that part of the Gradual devoted not only to the cult of the
Virgin but also containing special services, including the Pro reg'e, prayers to avert
personal disasters — sin and sickness — and public disasters -— pestilences and the
danger of a Turkish invasion (the Office Contro pagano5) from the King and his
people. This danger hung over Poland for the first time in all its terrors after the de-
feat of John Albert's expedition to Moldavia, which shattered the plans for taking
the Black Sea ports of Kilyos and Belgorod from the Turks.
The decoration of the outer margin of the page with the introit "Ca/ve śancta Pa-
ren.5" complements the ideological content of the miniature. It was built up on the prin-
Z23