Mary in hope
The Christian devotional image Mary in hope (also Mary of good hope, Mary's expectation , Maria gravida) represents the pregnant Mother of God, on whose body the unborn child Jesus often appears pictorially or symbolically.
history
The motif of the gravid Mother of God is clearly related to the visitation of Mary . Both types of images did not become widespread until the 13th century and especially after the introduction of the corresponding church festival (1263 in the Franciscan order, 1389 in general, highlighted in 1441 in the Council of Basel). While Maria and Elisabeth were only rarely and only late in their unborn children visibly applied to their bodies in the visitation scenes, this visualization is almost the rule with Maria in Hope as an individual representation and is found in the earliest examples around 1300. Especially in women's convents the motif was popular. Regional main areas of distribution were Bohemia and Bavaria. Related devotional images are known from Spain ( María de la O ), France ( Vierge de l'attente, vierge du Signe ), Italy ( Madonna del parto ). In the post-medieval period, the popularity of the representation type declined significantly; the last isolated examples date from the 18th century.
Mary in Hope, Silesian wooden sculpture around 1420, Marienstern convent (Lausitz)
Maria gravida from the altar of grace in the Bogenberg pilgrimage church , 14th century
Visitation, Swabia around 1440, Bavarian National Museum, Munich
Joseph dreams of Mary's pregnancy. Fresco in the Martinskapelle Bregenz, around 1360.
literature
- Lexicon of Christian Iconography: Article Mary in Hope , Vol. 3, 1971
- Heinz Stafsky: The statuette of a "Maria in expectation" , in: Zeitschrift für Kunstwissenschaft 17, 1973, pp. 55–62
- GM Lechner: Maria Gravida. On the pregnancy motif in the fine arts in: Münchener Kunsthistorische Abhandlungen, Vol. 9, 1981
