Bosom of Abraham Trinity
The Bosom of Abraham Trinity, also known as the Trinity with souls, is a rare iconography apparently unique to English medieval alabaster sculpture, of which only twelve examples are known to have survived, although there were undoubtedly many more made.[1] They adapt an earlier convention where a figure of Abraham himself held tiny figures of souls in a cloth between his hands representing the Bosom of Abraham.
In a composition showing the "
In the Boston figure, dated 1420–50, nine "souls" are seen, in two rows, with a king and bishop in the centre of the top row, distinguishable by their crown and
There were earlier images, common in the great French Gothic cathedrals of the 13th century, illustrating Abraham himself with small souls represented as children in his cloak, or held in a napkin in the same way as in the alabasters.[5] By "about the early fourteenth century" such images ceased to be "theologically acceptable",[6] though it seems this news had not reached Cornwall by the early 16th century, when a stained glass Abraham with a napkin of souls was installed in the parish church at St Neot, Cornwall (picture below).[7]
In a detached miniature of about 1150, from a work of Hildegard of Bingen, a figure usually described as "Synagogue", of youngish appearance with closed eyes, holds a group, with Moses carrying the Tablets above the others, held in the large figure's folded arms.[8]
In addition, the theme combines elements of the Western Virgin of Mercy and the Russian Pokrov icons, though these are not necessarily direct influences. It was probably associated with the feast of All Saints, and used on altars with this dedication.[9] In the Virgin of Mercy, a standing Mary spreads her cloak wide, sheltering a crowd of figures, representing the living. In the Pokrov icons, she holds a small "veil" in her hands in a similar gesture to the Burrell figure, but this represents the vision of a Byzantine saint, where she spread her veil over the world as a protection.
Although no examples of the Bosom of Abraham Trinity have survived in other media, they probably once existed. English alabasters were exported across Europe and have survived in relatively large numbers on the Continent, especially France, while other publicly displayed artistic media from the period have mostly been destroyed since the
The type was first published in 1933 by the art historian Walter Leo Hildburgh, the leading authority on, and collector of, English alabasters.[11]
Notes
- ^ Nigel Ramsay in: Jonathan Alexander & Paul Binski (eds), Age of Chivalry, Art in Plantagenet England, 1200–1400, p. 514–515, Royal Academy/Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1987
- ^ Ramsay, op cit. Illustrated in Ramsay/Alexander & Binski op cit
- ^ Ramsay op cit; Boston image[permanent dead link]
- ^ Ramsay, who is not wholly clear on this point.
- Notre Dame de Paris, Chartres Cathedral, Bourges Cathedraland elsewhere.
- ^ Ramsay, op cit.
- ^ St Neot parish church website Archived August 7, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 0-300-06493-4
- ^ Ramsay, op cit. Sheingorn is of this view.
- ^ JSTOR Iconographical Peculiarities in English Medieval Alabaster Carvings. Part One, W. L. Hildburgh, Folklore, Vol. 44, No. 1 (Mar., 1933), pp. 32–56.
- ^ In Hildburgh, op cit. Hildburgh's collection is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Further reading
- Pamela Sheingorn; The Bosom of Abraham Trinity: A Late Medieval All Saints Image, Proceedings of the 1986 Harlaxton Symposium: England in the Fifteenth Century, edited by Daniel Williams, pp. 273–295, Paul Watkins Publishing, Donington.