Sunday 2 March 2014

The Sinai Madonna

For #iwd as well as my usual goddesses I thought I'ld share some early Christian and Byzantine art. There are plenty of images of Mary Queen of Heaven and Mary as Mother of Sorrows but how they are related to earlier images of Hera and Isis has been thoroughly discussed by others.

I have picked the Sinai Madonna a 6th century AD image because

a ) Mary as Theotokos

b ) I liked the expression of concern

c) she'd not the queen of heaven adorned with jewellery

this is a mother who's aware she was a very special child!

d) images like this remind us Greek art isnt all marble  statue or hyper detailed realism.

it perhaps derives its style not from the painter being a simple monk but from a folk art tradition that survived in Christian icons?

You might want to compare this to Coptic encaustic painting ?

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