Medieval Art and Its Historical Social and Spiritual Meaning

Madonna and Child by the Master of St. Cecilia

Madonna and Child (1290-1295) by the Master of St. Cecilia is a tempera and gold leaf on panel depiction of the Mother of God and the Christ Child. Its iconic imagery perfectly represents and reflects the ideals of the medieval world, of Christian Europe as it existed under the guidance of the Roman Catholic Church. The Church during this time served as the social, political and religious example for all the nations and peoples of Europe. This icon by the Master of St. Cecilia depicts the ideal that the Church wished to convey to its followers, whether princes or peasants -- namely, that all mankind should honor and humble himself before the majesty of the Mother of God, whose fiat to the Archangel ensured that the Son of God would be born to redeem mankind and pay the price for his sins. This was the central concept of medieval society -- that Christ died to redeem mankind; kings from Alfred the Great to St. Louis of France to Charles V recognized and adhered to this doctrine of the faith, and so too did the various classes of peoples throughout Christendom. This icon thus reflects not just a religious belief that was prescient everywhere in Europe at the end of the 13th century but also it reflects a fundamental foundation of Europe's social and political atmosphere -- respect for the Virgin Mary and Her Son, the Redeemer of the World. This paper will illustrate how this icon conveys these ideas.

The first thing to be noticed about this icon is its shiny gold leaf, which shimmers and attracts and excites the eye. Gold is the ornament of glory and greatness and here on this panel it serves as the illuminating backdrop of the more prominent presence of the Madonna and Child. The panel was most likely created to adorn the walls of a church or to decorate an altar where the religious sacrifice of the Mass would be offered on a daily basis in Italy at that time. The gold is thus in keeping with the thematic ornamentation of other religious items one might find in a church -- such as the chalice, made of gold, or the robes of the priest which might be ornamented with gold threads.

Indeed, the stature that the Christian Church held throughout the medieval age contrasted sharply with the respect and command it held during the Roman Empire. For instance, the Emperor Trajan remarked to Pliny that the Christians were to be prosecuted and punished if identified and denounced, unless they agreed to worship the Roman gods -- then they were to be forgiven. Nero used the Christians as a scapegoat for the ills that Rome suffered under his reign. In short, under the Roman Empire, Christians faced persecution and martyrdom, and the Church was driven underground for many years until the reign of Constantine changed the Roman orientation (Constantine himself would become a Christian).

With the change in the way the Christians were perceived by Roman authorities following Constantine's rule, the Church began to become more prominent in society. Rome was already falling, however, and when it was sacked by the Vandals in the middle of the 5th century, and then taken over by Theodoric of the Ostrogoths at the end of the century, the Dark Ages had arrived. The Roman Empire was lost and a new leader would have to unite what was left of Europe.

That leader would come about in Charles der Grosse -- Charlemagne, as he is called today. Charlemagne united the various lands held by the various barbarian tribes and committed them to a kind of unity under his reign. He also defended the Pope in Italy, who descended from the first Pope -- St. Peter from the time of Christ. For his defense of the Church, Charlemagne was crowned by the Pope as Holy Roman Emperor in 800 AD. This act alone helped to fuse a bond between secular authority (which Charlemagne represented) and spiritual authority (which the Christian Church represented). As a result of this bond, society in Europe would shape itself around the Christian ideals. Monks and missionaries would spread and transform the landscape, the sciences, and the teaching of the people. Marvelous cathedrals would be built to honor the Christian God, and wars would be fought to defend or to take holy places from the enemies of the Church.

For this reason, it is easy to understand this icon by the Master of St. Cecilia. It is a golden tribute to the honor that the Christian society of the 13th century wished to pay to the Madonna and Christ Child. At the same time, there is in the appearance of the two a note of the history of the Church -- born out of suffering and persecution, which mirrors the narrative of the own life of the Mother of God, who was forced to flee her home with the Christ Child in the wake of the persecution unleashed by Herod the Great -- a massacre known as the Slaughter of the Innocents, in which all children under the age of 2 were killed by Herod's men in the attempt to kill the Christ Child, whom Herod had been told by the Magi would grow up to be a great king. This history of suffering is reflected in the face of the Madonna in the icon. Yet in the face of the Child is joy and reassurance: He embodies the fact of His Resurrection and ultimate victory over death. In comparison with other works of Christian artists (such as early works in the catacombs) or the stained-glass Virgin and Child (1335) by the Master of Klosterneuburg, which shows even more of the humanism that would come to dominate Renaissance art, the icon by the Master of St. Cecilia's can be viewed as a kind of transition piece between the Byzantine world and Renaissance world.