Virgin and Child (여자와 용)
| (계 12:1) | 하늘에 큰 1)이적이 보이니 해를 옷 입은 한 여자가 있는데 그 발 아래에는 달이 있고 그 머리에는 열두 별의 관을 썼더라 |
Geertgen tot Sint Jans ca. 1460/65 – ca. 1488/93
Virgin and Child
tempera on panel (27 × 21 cm) — 1480s
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam
Geertgen tot Sint Jans biography
This work is linked to Revelation 12:1
Please scroll down to read more information about this work.
Also known as The glorification of Mary. As predicted in Genesis 3:15, the snake of the original sin is crushed by a woman. The snake is shown here as a dragon, and the woman is probably Mary, Eve's successor.
More importantly, this panel refers to the first verses of chapter 12 in John's Revelation. John speaks of a vision of a woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. Geertgen here has the crown resting on a bed of white and red roses - literally a rosary.
Surrounding the woman are three spheres with angels. In the inner circle are cherubs and seraphs (six-winged angels), two of them holding the crown.
The angels in the second ring carry elements from the Passion: a nail, a cross, a spear, a pillar. The top angels in this sphere hold banners with the text Sanctus, a reference to the glorification of Mary.
In the outer ring, the angels play instruments popular in Geertgen's days. one of them has eye contact with the infant Jesus, who also plays bells.
Diego Rodríguez da Silva y Velázquez 1599 – 1660
St John at Patmos
oil on canvas (135 × 102 cm) — c. 1618
Diego Rodríguez da Silva y Velázquez biography
This work is linked to Revelation 12:1
Please scroll down to read more information about this work.
Tradition has it that St John the Evangelist was sent into exile on the island of Patmos, one of the Cyclades. There he supposedly wrote his Revelation, sent to him in a series of visions.
Here Velázquez shows John as he looks up to the vision of the woman he describes in chapter 12. She was about to give birth to a son who was to be attacked be a dragon - a resemblance to either Jesus or the situation of the persecuted christians.
It is hardly visible but to his right stands an eagle, Johns traditional attribute.
Velázquez was about 19 when he painted this picture. He used a Spanish model who hardly had any eastern looks.