Legends of the Madonna, as represented in the fine artsForming the third series of Sacred and legendary art . vine Child; the com-monest of all being the Fall, which rendered a Redeemernecessary. Moses striking the rock (the waters of life)—theelevation of the brazen serpent—the gathering of the manna —or Moses holding the broken tablets of the old law,—all typesof redemption, are often thus introduced as ornaments. In thesixteenth century, when the purely religious sentiment haddeclined, and a classical and profane taste had infected everydepartment of art and literature, we find the throne o
Legends of the Madonna, as represented in the fine artsForming the third series of Sacred and legendary art . vine Child; the com-monest of all being the Fall, which rendered a Redeemernecessary. Moses striking the rock (the waters of life)—theelevation of the brazen serpent—the gathering of the manna —or Moses holding the broken tablets of the old law,—all typesof redemption, are often thus introduced as ornaments. In thesixteenth century, when the purely religious sentiment haddeclined, and a classical and profane taste had infected everydepartment of art and literature, we find the throne of theVirgin adorned with classical ornaments and bas-reliefs fromthe antique remains ; as, for instance, the hunt of Theseus andHippolyta. We must then suppose her throned on the ruinsof paganism, an idea suggested by the old legends, whichrepresent the temples and statues of the heathen gods as THE VIRGIN AND CHILD ENTHRONED. 79 falling into ruin on the approach of the Virgin and herChild ; and a more picturesque application of this ideaafterwards became common in other subjects. In this 39 Madonna in Troiio. (Garofalo.) after Garofalo, the throne is adorned with Sphinxes, — a Vantique, Andrea del Sarto has placed harpies at the corner of the pedestal of the throne, in his famous Madonna di f^°- <^^- San Francesco, — a gross fault in that otherwise grand and faultless picture; one of those desecrations of a religious theme which Andrea, as devoid of religious feeling as he was weak and dishonest, was in the habit of committing. But whatever the material or style of the throne, whethersimple or gorgeous, it is supposed to be a heavenly is not of the earth, nor on the earth; and at first it was 80 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. alone and unapproachable. The Virgin mother, thus seatedin her majesty, apart from all human beings, and in commu-nion only with the infant Godhead on her knee, or the livingworshippers who come to lay down their cares and sorr
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade18, booksubjectmaryblessedvirginsaint
