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contact:
malbon@vt.edu

Christina Bucher teaches at Elizabethtown College.

Abstract: In European art of the 15th century, the Virgin Mary is frequently portrayed seated in an enclosed garden. This image, which art historians suggest symbolizes Mary’s purity, originates in the Song of Songs 4:12: “My sister, my spouse, is a garden enclosed, a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up.” This paper will examine selected 15th-century European paintings and manuscript illustrations that associate Mary with an enclosed garden. Included will be paintings by Stefan Lochner, the Master of the Paradise Garden, the Master of the House-Book, Matthias Gruenewald, and Hans Memling, as well as a Book of Hours that is located in the Free Library of Philadelphia. The paper will explore ways in which other symbolism in these paintings and illustrations may have its origin in the Song of Songs, and it will identify other biblical texts that appear to underlie the artistic symbolism.

2005, Philadelphia


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