The Liturgy of Love: Images from the Song of Songs in the Art of Cimabue, Michelangelo and RembrandtThree essays explore three great masterworks of European art that visualize the relationship between spiritual and physical love expressed passionately and graphically in the biblical Song of Songs. Marilyn Aronberg Lavin writes on Cimabue's vast fresco cycle of the Virgin in the apse of San Francesco in Assisi, at the threshold of the Renaissance, where the Franciscan belief in the bodily Assumption is couched in terms of the Old Testament love poem. Irving Lavin demonstrates how the invocation of love in the Song of Songs molded the form of Michelangelo's Medici Madonna as well as his concept for the entire design and meaning of the Medici mortuary chapel in San Lorenzo, Florence. Writing together, the Lavins reveal the generative power of biblical fulfillment in Rembrandt's famous portrayal of a loving couple, called The Jewish Bride. Marilyn Aronberg Lavin is known for her fundamental work on the history of mural decoration in the churches of Italy, and is the recipient of the coveted Morey Award for Distinguished Scholarship from the College Art Association. Irving Lavin, Professor in the School of Historical Studies, Institute of Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ, is best known for his work on the Italian Baroque sculpture Gianlorenzo Bernini, but his publications range over a wide span of Western art, from Late Antiquity to Jackson Pollock. Marilyn Lavin has been a visiting professor at Princeton University since 1975. Irving Lavin holds the chair in art history at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey. |
Contents
Mother and Bride | 5 |
Spouse and Son | 49 |
Sister and Spouse | 85 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
Abimelech altar altarpiece antiphon apostles apse Arnolfini portrait Assisi Assumption basilica beloved Bonaventure breast Canticle Cardinal Casa Buonarroti century Christ and Mary Christ Child Christian Cimabue Cimabue Fig Cimabue's Clement copy of Cimabue couple cycle death Detail of Fig divine drawing eagle Ecclesia embrace engraving Feast Figure Florence Francis Franciscan fresco friars Ganymede gesture Golden Legend heaven Isaac and Rebecca Jacobus Jewish Bride Johann Antoine Ramboux John the Evangelist Kunsthistorisches Institut Kunsthistorisches Institut Florenz liturgy Madonna and Child mandorla manuscript illumination marriage Mary's Masci Medici Chapel Medici Madonna meum Michelangelo Buonarroti mosaic mother motif Museum narrative Nicholas Old Sacristy Old Testament painting papal passage Photo Pope portrait reference relationship Rembrandt Rembrandt van Rijn Resurrection Rome salvation San Francesco San Giovanni San Lorenzo Santa Maria scene seated sermons Song of Songs spiritual spouse theme throne tier Tolnay tomb tradition Upper Church Virgin visual