The representation of the Immaculate Conception

The principal theological controversy in the Middle Ages concerning Mary, the mother of Jesus, centred on the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. The doctrine asserts that Mary was preserved free original sin in the first instant of her conception. The theme consistently troubled artists and patrons during the early Renaissance, since no clear narrative existed for the portrayal of the largely abstract subject.

Although various texts in both the Old and the New Testaments have been cited in defence of the doctrine, it seems to have arisen from a general acceptance in the early church of Mary's holiness. Especially after Mary had been solemnly declared to be the mother of God at the Council of Ephesus in 431, most theologians doubted that one who had been so close to God could have actually committed sinful acts.

The view that Mary had been spared also from the disposition to evil inherent in original sin was not clearly articulated until the 12th century, when considerable debate was centred on an English celebration of Mary's conception. By the 1380's a clear split had emerged between the Franciscan and Dominican Orders. The discussion was clouded by medieval views of the biological aspects of conception and by a concern that the belief in the universal redemption effected by Jesus should not be threatened.

The latter concern (particularly associated with St. Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century) was countered not long after by the Franciscan theologian John Duns Scotus, who argued that Christ's redemptive grace was applied to Mary to prevent sin from reaching her soul and that this special intervention resulted in a more perfect redemption in her case. Mary's privilege, thus, was the result of God's grace and not of any intrinsic merit on her part.

A gradual acceptance of the Franciscans' views over the next several centuries was reflected in the teaching of various popes (especially Sixtus IV in the late 15th century) and the councils of Basel (1439) and Trent (1546). It was not, however, until December 8, 1854, that Pius IX, urged by the majority of Catholic bishops throughout the world, solemnly declared in the bull Ineffabilis Deus that the doctrine was revealed by God and hence was to be firmly believed as such by all Catholics. The feast of the Immaculate Conception is celebrated on December 8.

Venetian: The Altarpiece of the Virgin Mary

Dalmatian School

1375-1400

National Gallery

The work illustrates a sermon on the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin. The two rarely depicted miracles of the Virgin are recounted in additions to The Golden Legend. The central panel represents the Madonna of Humility.

Centre:

The Virgin and Child.

Left side: The story of the Birth of the Virgin

Saint Joachim's offering rejected
The Angel appearing to Saint Joachim
The Meeting at the Golden Gate
The Birth of the Virgin

Right side: Miracles of the Virgin connected with the Feast of the Conception

Helsinus saved from shipwreck
Helsinus preaching in favour of the celebration of the Conception
A French canon drowned by devils
The canon restored to life by the Virgin

Predella: Christ and the twelve apostles

Inscriptions

National Gallery

Francsican: Baroncelli Chapel, Santa Croce

Taddeo Gaddi

1328-30

The Life of the Virgin

Gaddi's frescoes, painted for the wealthy Baroncelli family, summarise the Franciscan Order's position in the intensifying dispute with the Dominicans. Inspired by the experience of their founder, the Franciscans were determined to demonstrate the readiness of the Deity to intervene on behalf of His Chosen. The Stigmatisation of St Francis not only indicated God's approval of the man, but also endorsed the Franciscan Rule with His Signature.

Duns Scotus had declared, in support of the Immaculate Conception: Decuit, potuit, fecit (It was fitting; He could do it; He did it.) No fewer than five angelic interventions occur within the narrative scheme of the chapel, including the Stigmatisation of St Francis in the stained glass over the altar.

Next to the scene of the Birth of the Virgin on the altar side are three angelic interventions: the Annunciation, the Annunciation to the shepherds, and the Stigmatisation in the village of La Verna, where St Francis arrived on August 15, the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin into Heaven.

Above the panel is the Annuciation to Joachim. Depicted on the other side in the same horizontal band is the very moment at which the Franciscans argued that the Conception took place: the Meeting between Joachim and Anna at the Golden Gate.

As part of Mary's freedom from original sin, it was argued that she was predestined in her role from the beginning of Creation; accordingly, Gaddi represents the Annunciation to the Virgin in such a way as to emphasis its prophetic nature. The Angel Gabriel is not, as is customary, kneeling facing the Virgin; rather , Gabriel is shown still in the heavens, at the moment that God the Father sends him forth, while Mary glances up, showing no surprise, from the book of Isaiah on her lectern. (Isaiah 7:14 'Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel').

Sources

Dominican: Tornabuoni chapel, Santa Maria Novella

Domenico Ghirlandaio

1486-90

Birth of the Virgin

Coming just a few years after the edicts of Sixtus IV promulgating the Feast, Ghirlandaio's frescoes indicate that Dominican passions have cooled little. In a narrative series presided over by the magisterial figures of St Thomas Aquinas and St Antoninus, both of whom had argued forcefully against the doctrine, the Dominican position is subtly restated.

The cycle of the Life of the Virgin starts with her birth; Joachim and Anna exchange a couple's affectionate kiss at the door of the house, in the manner of a married couple about to go about the process of conception in a more usual manner.

The scene itself, alloted the full width of the lowest and most visible band, immediately draws the viewer's attention; association is made with the opposite scene of the Birth of the Baptist, following the Dominican contention that Mary was sanctified in her mother's womb before birth, like John the Baptist.

The angel of the Annunciation and the angel appearing to Zacharias deliver their heavenly messages unobtrusively at ground level.