Marriage of the Virgin
The Marriage of the Virgin is the subject in
In the
In art the subject could be covered in several different scenes, and the betrothal of Mary, with Joseph's blossoming rod, was often shown, despite its apocryphal origin. The wedding procession may also be shown, especially in the
The lack of scriptural backing for the details, and the fall from fashion of
The feast for the Espousals of the Blessed Virgin Mary, now only celebrated by some parts of the Catholic Church, is on January 23.
The betrothal in the Golden Legend
The Golden Legend, which derives its account from the much older
When [Mary] had come to her fourteenth year, the high priest announced to all that the virgins who were reared in the Temple, and who had reached the age of their womanhood, should return to their own, and be given in lawful marriage. The rest obeyed the command, and Mary alone answered that this she could not do, both because her parents had dedicated her to the service of the Lord, and because she herself had vowed her virginity to God.... When the high priest went in to take counsel with God, a voice came forth from the oratory for all to hear, and it said that of all the marriageable men of the house of David who had not yet taken a wife, each should bring a branch and lay it upon the altar, that one of the branches would burst into flower and upon it the Holy Ghost would come to rest in the form of a dove, according to the prophecy of Isaias, and that he to whom this branch belonged would be the one to whom the virgin should be espoused. Joseph was among the men who came.... [and he] placed a branch upon the altar, and straightaway it burst into bloom, and a dove came from Heaven and perched at its summit; whereby it was manifest to all that the Virgin was to become the spouse of Joseph.
In fact, neither the Golden Legend nor any of the early apocryphal accounts describe the actual ceremony, and they differ as to its timing, other than that it preceded the "Journey to Bethlehem". It is unclear whether this story was set before or after the Annunciation which, in the New Testament account, occurred after their betrothal but before their marriage. In the Gospel of James it comes after the Annunciation, but in the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, the primary source in the West, it comes before it.[1]
Artists
The scene, or scenes, was a common component in larger cycles of the Life of the Virgin and thus very frequently found, especially in the Middle Ages; it is not found in the typical cycle in a Book of hours however. It was often a predella scene underneath the main scene in an altarpiece centred on Mary,
The marriage scene has been painted by, among others, Giotto,
-
Giotto, c 1305
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Domenico Ghirlandaio (1485–90, at the Tornabuoni Chapel)
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Betrothal of the Virgin, Rosso Fiorentino, 1523
References
- ^ The Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine, G. Ryan and H. Rippergar (editors), New York and London, 1941, pages 204-205
- ^ Iconology of Raphael's Marriage of the Virgin: A Study Archived 2009-01-06 at the Wayback Machine
External links
- Aquinas, Thomas. "Summa Theologica III q29. Of the espousals of the Mother of God"
- Sansonvino, Andrea. The Wedding, marble sculpture, Loretto, Italy, (1526)
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