Barbara Longhi's Madonna Purissima
The Immaculate Conception
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18533/jah.v11i1.2252Keywords:
Barbara Longhi, Counter-Reformation, Immaculate Conception, Christian symbolism, clouds, moon, sun light, starsAbstract
The essay considers the Christian symbolism in the Immaculate Conception (1620) by Barbara Longhi of Ravenna (1552–1638). The painting depicts the Virgin Mary (Madonna) as the Woman of the Apocalypse described by the Evangelist Saint John in the Book of Revelation (12:1, 2 and 5): “A great sign appeared in Heaven … A woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” From a cloud of light the Virgin Mary emerges standing on a crescent moon holding her son. Rays of light emanate from her being and continue to expand in vortices within a nimbus (mandorla) to a ring of twelve stars crowning the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus. Her virginal nature embodied in the divine golden light ascribes her as Madonna Purissima. The stars forming a celestial crown metaphorically symbolize immortality and wisdom. In the doctrinal precepts of the Counter Reformation in Italy, the Virgin Mary became honored as the Virgo Sapientissima and Gloriosa, the Queen of Wisdom, and Regis Coeli, the Queen of Heaven.
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