Marian Iconography

Greek

ἡ Ἠδηγήτρια — “she who points the way”

Inscription

ΜΡ ΘΥ upper corners · the Christ-child holds a scroll, raises his right hand in blessing

Register

Theotokos doctrinal portrait · Mediatrix-gesture: she points, he is the answer

Prototype

Lost 1453. Hodegon Monastery, Constantinople. Attributed in tradition to St. Luke.

Exemplars

Smolensk · Tikhvin · Iverskaya · Salus Populi Romani (Western variant, Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome)

The Hodegetria is the iconographic counterpart of Mary’s last word in Scripture: do whatever he tells you (John 2:5). She points; he is the answer. Every Byzantine icon-painter learns this composition first; the entire iconography of the East stems from the master plate.

Greek

ἡ ἐλεοῦσα — “she who shows tenderness”

Inscription

ΜΡ ΘΥ upper corners · Mother and Child press their cheeks together; the Child grasps her veil with one hand

Register

Co-Redemptrix · the maternal anticipation of Calvary · Stabat Mater in two figures

Prototype

The Virgin of Vladimir, c. 1130, Constantinople — brought to Russia 1131, venerated at Vladimir-Suzdal then Moscow; now Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Exemplars

Vladimir · Don · Belozersk · Korsun · Glykofilousa (Western variant)

The Eleousa is the iconography of the Stabat Mater: the human warmth of the mother-child bond that will give way to Calvary’s wound. The Child's grasp on the veil is the prophecy of the maternal cooperation in the Passion. See Anthology §49 for the doctrinal text the type encodes.

Greek

ἡ Πλατυτέρα τῶν Οὐρανῶν — “more spacious than the heavens”

Inscription

ΜΡ ΘΥ · Christ within a medallion at her chest, often with ΙΣ ΧΣ identifier

Register

Theotokos paradox: the womb of Mary contains the Uncontainable · eucharistic prefigurement

Placement

Central apse of the church, directly above the altar — the same Christ contained in her womb is contained on the altar below

Exemplars

Hagia Sophia, Constantinople (now museum / mosque) · Basilica of the Annunciation, Nazareth · every Greek/Russian apse in unbroken tradition since the 9th c.

Greek

ἡ Προσευχομένη — “the one who prays”

Posture

Both hands raised, palms outward — the ancient gesture of intercessory prayer used in synagogue and early Christian liturgy

Register

Mediatrix of intercession · the universal Marian advocacy

Earliest exemplar

Catacombs of Priscilla, Rome — 3rd century fresco of the Virgin in the orans posture, oldest known Marian image

Exemplars

Madre della Consolazione (Rome) · Madonna del Parto (Piero della Francesca, 1460) · the Miraculous Medal central figure (1830)

Greek

ἡ Γαλακτοτροφοῦσα · Virgo Lactans — “the milk-feeder”

Register

Theotokos anti-Docetic · the Word truly took human flesh and was truly nourished by his Mother

Earliest exemplar

Coptic frescoes, 5th c.; Maria Lactans at the Monastery of St. Apollos, Bawit (Egypt), 6th c.

Exemplars

Madonna del Latte (Ambrogio Lorenzetti, 14th c.) · the Virgin Suckling the Christ-child (Jean Fouquet, 1452)

The Galaktotrophousa carries the most basic Christological wager in maternal flesh: the same milk that nourished Mary’s body nourished the body of God. Caro Christi, caro Mariae. Against any spiritualizing reading of the Incarnation, this icon stands.

Mary seated frontally on a throne, the Christ-child enthroned upon her lap. The architecture: Mary is the throne; Christ is the King. The maternal anatomy itself becomes the divine seat. Iconography of Solomon’s Wisdom enthroned (1 Kings 10:18 conjoined with Proverbs 8 and Wisdom 7). See OT Types §16.

“Piety / compassion.” Mary holds the dead body of Christ across her lap. Visual representation of the Stabat Mater in three dimensions. Iconographic complement to the Sedes Sapientiae: the same lap that bore the Christ-child receives the broken Body. The Mother who received the Word at the Annunciation receives the Body at the Descent from the Cross.

Michelangelo’s Pieta (1499, Vatican) is the supreme Western achievement of the form.

Mary alone, no Christ-child, standing on the moon (Rev 12:1), crowned with twelve stars, the serpent crushed under her foot (Gen 3:15), often accompanied by the Holy Spirit dove and the divine Word above. The iconography is the visual proclamation of the Immaculate Conception. The Spanish school perfected the form in the 17th century; Pius IX’s 1854 definition is in this image.

The Miraculous Medal (1830) takes the Immaculata into modern sacramental life with the inscription O Mary, conceived without sin. See Apparitions.

Mary opens her great mantle to shelter humanity beneath it: the doge, the pope, men and women, children, religious in their habits. The iconography of the universal maternal protection. The mantle is the visual rendering of the Sub tuum praesidium.

Mary alone, breast pierced by one or seven swords (Luke 2:35; the Seven Sorrows). Tears on her cheeks. Often paired iconographically with the Ecce Homo, the male and female faces of the Passion. The Co-Redemptrix in iconography.