When I first went to the National Gallery to visit the Visions of Paradise exhibition I asked the guard at the door the best way to find the exhibition (I get lost easily!) He kindly gave me directions and then added with a smile "you can't miss it". And he was rightI The brilliant light of the picture grabs your attention the moment you are within view. You can't take your eyes away from it. The painting is massive and its light is intense, startling, breathtaking. Botticini knew what most of us over the age of 50 already now only too well, that to see you need light! (I find it's impossible for me to read now unless I have a powerful lamp shining directly onto the page in front of me). And his picture is full of light; it's almost like a bright lamp itself, shining brilliantly in the corner of our room/galley/chapel, helping us to see! Not words on a page of course, but the divine reality. In the last post I talked about the lower panel of the painting, with its focus on the sponsors, Matteo Palmieri and his wife Niccolosa. In one sense the painting is really about them and I discussed the ways in which their position on the mountain top represents their claim to have been virtuous patrons, not just of Botticini and this painting, but of Florence. But the first thing you look at when you see the painting, as the guard pointed out to me, is not the two pious, kneeling figures in the centre, but the glorious dome of heaven above and its spectacular brilliance. In this post I want to talk about how understanding the importance of light in this picture helps us to grasp the spiritual and theological purpose of the painting! So, why is there so much light in the picture? What was Botticini's motivation in making his heaven so resplendent, so startling? One answer has to be to do with its intended destination. The painting had work to do! Get me to the churchThe painting was commissioned by Matteo Palmieri in 1467, 8 years before his death, and he intended that it should hang in his funerary chapel in the church of San Pier Maggiore in Florence. His father, mother and uncle were all buried there in a floor vault below the nuns' choir in the right hand (south) aisle of the church. San Pier Maggiore was one of the most significant churches and religious institutions in Florence Located around 500 metres to the east of Brunelleschi’s cathedral dome, San Pier Maggiore was one of Florence’s oldest and most prestigious ecclesiastical institutions. Claiming origins back to the 4th century, it was re-founded c. 1000 as a Benedictine convent. The nuns of San Pier Maggiore were drawn exclusively from elite families and the abbess enjoyed the notable privilege of symbolically marrying every new Archbishop of Florence on his arrival in the city. The bishop gave the abbess a golden ring and in exchange the nuns presented him with a bed to take home. San Pier Maggiore was comprehensively rebuilt in the early 14th century and this gothic core was later extended through the construction of private chapels around its perimeter. Historic plans and views provide some evidence for the church’s configuration in its Early Modern heyday, when the interior housed one of the city’s most significant ensembles of religious art. Article on the digitisation of San Pier Maggiore in Apollo Magazine In the detail from the altarpiece above you can see the city of Florence behind Matteo Palmieri's head. The pink dome of the cathedral stands out clearly. Just above Palmieri's nose you can see a tall spire which is probably the spire of San Pier Maggiore where the picture was to be placed. When one of the pillars of the church collapsed in 1783 during renovation work, the city officials declared the church unsafe and it was demolished and the land used for a market. Today the site is used by shops businesses and dwellings and it is almost impossible to imagine how the church and convent would have looked in their heyday. Below you can see the church as it looked in 1744 (before demolition) and on the right the space as it is today. Only the portico-facade remains. The intention was that the painting should be situated beneath the nuns' choir in the south aisle of the church. The church was part of a Benedictine convent, and the 'choir' was a balcony which allowed the nuns from the convent to take part in the services in the church below without mingling with the other visitors to the church. The balcony was supported by two columns in between which stood two arches. It is seems likely that the painting's unusual size and (horizontal) shape were determined by "the unusually proportioned wall space" below the nuns' choir (Visions of Paradise p 97) which it was intended to fill. This video records the project by researchers at Cambridge University to digitally reconstruct the church. It offers a really helpful visual guide to the church and the placement of the painting. It's a great project and an informative and helpful film. It is also part of the exhibition at the National Gallery But there is more to it than that. The brilliance of the light in the picture would have been a great match for the nuns as they sat or stood in their choir above it. As a worshipper in the church looked in that direction it would have seemed as if the brilliant light of heaven was issuing out of the nuns' choir, from the nuns themselves, and it would have seemed as if the nuns actually belonged to the 'great company of heaven' depicted in the dome! I am sure that if it had been situated where it was originally intended, the sisters would have been delighted with the design of the painting. They would surely have felt that their benefactor Matteo Palmieri had done them proud! However, according to Jennifer Sliwka in the wonderful book written to accompany the exhibition Visions of Paradise, the painting never illuminated the nuns in this way! After Palmieri's death in 1475 his nephew Antonio obtained permission to build a new chapel in the right trancept of the church, to house his uncle's body and the altarpiece he had commissioned. The design of the chapel would have taken the dimensions of the painting into account. A new homeThe church housed a number of significant art works, among them a beautiful altarpiece by Jacopo di Cione and his workshop (1370-71) (which is held by the National Gallery in London and which is part of the exhibition too). The altarpiece depicts scenes from the life of Jesus (above) and of St Peter (below) and its central panel depicts the Coronation of the Virgin. Botticini's The Assumption of the Virgin was situated in the purpose-built chapel to the right, towards the front of the church (from the point of view of the worshippers). The difference between the two paintings is striking. The Coronation of the Virgin is subdued and reverential. The virgin is crowned by Christ, while below, the 'angelic band' play their heavenly, 'coronation' music. I can't comment intelligently on the style or intention of this beautiful painting. I really have no idea what effect the artist wanted to inspire in the hearts and minds of those who saw the altarpiece. In my opinion these panels were intended to help worshippers imagine the stories and events which were central to their faith and which would have been represented and enacted in their liturgy of worship. The visual representation of people and events in that time somehow made them more real, more concrete. Seeing Mary crowned as Queen of Heaven would have aided their understanding and deepened their faith in her as their 'representative' in heaven, just as seeing the life of Christ portrayed visually would have made the gospel stories more 'real' and seeing the depictions of the life of Peter would have reinforced their devotion to the church. Seeing GodBut I think Botticini was trying to achieve a very different effect in the hearts and minds of worshippers. I think he wanted to go beyond the Jacopo paintings, to provide the faithful with an even deeper spiritual experience. Mary and Jesus are there of course, centre-stage in the picture and worshippers would have been reminded of their central place in the divine plan of salvation. But I believe that the focus of the painting is not simply on past events but on the reality of God. I think Botticini was trying to help viewers to see, not just what God had done, but to see God Himself. That, ultimately is the meaning of the light in the picture. As this detail below reveals, the light emanates from behind the figure of Christ. The rays of that light, like the rays of the sun, form concentric circles in a disc behind him. The positioning of Christ in front of that disc, is of course a statement about Christ who is in Christian faith the 'Light of the world'. But the light has its origin essentially in God, and it is mediated by Christ. The light that lights up heaven's dome is the light of God's own being which is revealed by Jesus Christ. To understand how this works it's helpful to look at something written by Florence's most famous son Dante Alghieri, about a hundred years before Botticini started painting in his epic poem the Commedia. Palmieri and Botticini (and indeed Italian culture in general) were deeply influenced by Dante's Commedia (the Divine Comedy). In that work, written over a hundred years before, Dante's pilgrim seeks to escape the dark forest of sin and ignorance in which he finds himself at the beginning of the book and find the light he has glimpsed at the top of the mountain ahead of him. Finding that light he knows will rescue him. The rest of the vast and wonderful poem is the story of that search. Darkness and light of course are metaphors for ignorance/sin and understanding/virtue respectively. Hell is covered in shadow and gloom because it is so far from the light of paradise where understanding and truth are found. Purgatory, which is half way between the two, has both day and night. Those in purgatory are half-way to understanding! It is entirely in keeping with this metaphorical use of the light-dark dichotomy that God is pictured at the end of the Commedia as pure light. When in Canto 28 of the Paradiso (the third and final part of the trilogy that makes up the Commedia) Dante reaches the Primum Mobile, the sphere that controls the movements of all the other planetary spheres and so the boundary of the material universe, he is given his first vision of God who appears as a point of light surrounded by rings of fire which are the angels. This is the first of several successive visions of God each of which is depicted in terms of visions of light. I saw a point that flashed a beam of light Paradiso Canto 28:16-20 Then Dante leaves behind the material universe altogether and enters the Empyrean heaven which he describes as pure light and pure intellect (pure luce; pure intellettual) With the voice and bearing of a guide Paradiso Canto 30:37-42 Like sudden lightning that confounds Paradiso Canto 30:46-50 As the pilgrim moves closer to God his vision strengthens and he is able to see God as a river of light And I saw light that flowed as flows a river, Paradiso Canto 30:37-42 After Dante bathes his eyes in this river he his sight is enhanced and he sees God as an immense round sea of light There is a light above that makes the Creator Paradiso Canto 30.101-108 Eventually Dante sees within the circle of light the persons of the trinity appearing as three distinct circles of different intensity of light In the deep, transparent essence of the lofty Light Paradiso Canto 33:116-121 So the idea of God as light helps Dante to talk about God and gives a coherence to his narrative. The pilgrim escapes the darkness of sin and ignorance by finding the vision of God who is true 'intellectual' light. When he sees the vision of God everything suddenly makes sense. All the 'pages' of the book of the universe which had been separate, out of order, impossible to make sense of, now gather together into one single volume. Now with that intense pure light, Dante can 'see'. Now he understands everything. Speaking of GodBut for Dante the use of the image of light for God is more than a metaphor, it is a way of describing the essence of God. The Commedia is more than just a spiritual allegory. It is also an encyclopedia of all the knowledge about the world that was known at that time. Dante tries to encapsulate everything into this journey of discovery. In describing God as light he is trying, I think, to hint at the very essence of God, trying if you like to say what God is made of. In describing the vision of God like this Dante was reflecting the views of some of the most influential theologians of his era. For them, it was necessary to believe that God could be seen by the human eye but they knew that the form of God couldn't conform to anything in creation. That was a bit of a puzzle for them. How can we see something that has no recognisable form? The answer some came up with was that God was pure light. Humans are familiar with light and we know that light brings sight, which enables us to act and do things. Light seemed to answer the puzzle. Light was both visible and yet 'wholly other'. Light could let us talk about what we see when we see God without in any way seeming to diminish God. Some thinkers of that era also believed that light was the means by which God gave motion to the planetary bodies, that the divine light was the energy of creation. Dante certainly seems to have agreed with that. God's light was literally what made the world 'go round'. God himself beamed out from heaven, giving life to the universe, filling the heavens and the minds of those who believed. That was the intellectual background to Palmieri's own dream-vision of the Christian's journey to God, the City of Life and then in turn, for Botticini's painting. So, the brilliant light we see when we look at Botticini's altarpiece had a history. Both in the philosophy of the era and in the best known writing of the age, Dante's Commedia, light was used as the best way to picture God. But whereas in the Commedia the pilgrim finds the light by journeying heavenward (symbolising the journey of faith) the painting by Botticini adds another remarkable feature to this idea. The light from the dome of heaven is shining brightly down onto the earth below. The light is obvious, accessible and unmissable. The light of the very being of God is mediated through Christ and the angelic beings, eventually becoming light that any true believer can find to enlighten their own path to heavenly glory. Palmieri's painting speaks to the worshippers of a God who is shining brilliantly into the world, into Florence and into their church and therefore of a God who is not hidden, who can be found. Here, in this painting they could see God, not portrayed as an old man with a beard, but as brilliant, blazing light illuminating the whole of heaven. Those who saw the painting would have 'seen' a God who wasn't hidden away behind screens, in dusty books written in Latin, in strange rituals and liturgies mumbled by ignorant priests but a God who lit up everything and everyone! In that way I think those who first saw it 550 hundred years ago would have been as surprised and startled by it as I was when I first saw it in the national gallery. I imagine some of them also would have been delighted and excited. 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April 2016
GalleryThis blog is as much about images as it is about text. Below is a slideshow of the pictures and images used in this blog. Click on any of the pictures to go to the post where that image is featured.
PostsLocating Paradise #1 In a Garden, Far, Far Away
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #5 'Stuck in the Middle With You'
The Resurrection According to Rahner
Today You Will Be With Me in Paradise
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #4 'And Who by Fire'
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #3: Held in the Balance
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #2: Once, Twice, Three Times a Sinner
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #1: The Broad and Narrow Gates
Daily Dante 7: Many Rivers to Cross
Daily Dante 6: 'You Gotta Serve Somebody'
In Hell Everyone Can Hear You Scream. The Vision of Tundale #3
Teeth, Spikes and Cleavers: At the Sharp end of Hell. The Vision of Tundale #2
'No Pain No Gain': The Vision of Tundale #1
'Hellzapoppin':
Illustrations from Le Livre de la Vigne nostre Seigneur, #2 'It's The End of the World as We Know It (and we feel fine)'. Illustrations from Le Livre de la Vigne nostre Seigneur, #1
Visions of Heaven. Botticini's Assumption of the Virgin #2 Blinded by the Light
Visions of Heaven. Botticini's Assumption of the Virgin #1: Glorious and Immortal
Daily Dante 5: What the gates said.
Daily Dante 4: When I find myself in times of trouble
Daily Dante 3: I'll take you there
Daily Dante 2: Fierce creatures
Daily Dante 1: If you go down to the woods today
In Seventh Heaven or 'What Enoch Did Next'
A World of Fire and Ice: Heaven according to Enoch
The Power and the Glory: Visions of God as king in the Hebrew bible
The Beautiful Bestiary of Catherine Cleves: Monsters and Demons in detail.
Heaven is for Real: Heaven as a physical space up above the sky
Resurrecting the Dead or Reviving the Flowers? The loss of resurrection faith in Judaism.
The Defeat of Death #1: The promise of resurrection in the Isaiah Apocalypse.
The Defeat of Death #2: Death as a hostile power and promise of God's victory in Isaiah
Scary Monsters and Super Creeps: The 'Last Judgement' according to Stefan Lochner
Hell in the Hospital: The 'Last Judgement' of Rogier van der Weyden in the Beaune altarpiece.
'Hell' in the New Testament #2: The gates of Hades shall not prevail
The Hours of Catherine Cleves: Imagining hell and purgatory in Catherine's prayer book
'On Earth as in Heaven': The kingdom of God as a revelation of heaven
'Hell' in the New Testament #1: Gehenna
Lost in Translation #1: How the King James version got it so wrong about hell
Heaven is not our home
Domes, Depths and Demons: The cosmology of the Hebrew world
A Bigger God
"See you in Sheol" - Sheol, the common destination of all
Heaven, Hell and Christian Hope
BooksBelow are some of the books which have helped me the most in the research and writing for this blog. Click on any image to find out more about that book at its page on Amazon uk.
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