The Throne of Wisdom


One of the most popular images in Chistianity is the image of the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus. Over the past thousand years the Virgin Mary or The Queen of Heaven has gone for a serious, almost stern faced woman with her son sitting on her lap to a young a beautiful queen holding her son on her hip. The image of The Queen of Heaven holding her son on her lap is also known as The Throne of Wisdom( https://smarthistory.org/throne-of-wisdom-sculptures/) during the Romanesque art period. The myth behind the Throne of Wisdom is that in the old testament the Book of Kings, King Solomon who embodied wisdom, and justice had a throne of ivory covered in gold. Like his predecessors, the son of God representing wisdom needed a throne befitting a king. Thus, Mary enthroned herself, baby Jesus appears to be more of a miniature man rather than a baby. He also holds an open bible in his hand which symbolizes divine wisdom. During the middle ages, people believed that these statues were not not sculpted by man but were the spiritual embodiments of the Queen herself. One legend has the statue jumping out of a burning church, saving itself from destruction.  In times of war, famine, disease and of course for contributions these statues were proceeded around because of their spiritual embodiment. These statues are important because they show the progression of religion. It also gives us an idea on how organized religion became popular. The stories from the bible were put on as plays during this time, and sculptures were used as props in which they were given offerings. 







 Left: Virgin from Ger, second half of the 12th century, wood, tempera, and stucco, 51.8 x 20.5 x 15.5 cm (Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona) ; right: Virgin, c. 1330-40, carved alabaster with remains of polychrome and gold leaf, 42.5 x 112 cm (Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona)

Left: Virgin from Ger, second half of the 12th century, wood, tempera, and stucco, 51.8 x 20.5 x 15.5 cm (Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, Barcelona) ; right: Virgin, c. 1330-40, carved alabaster with remains of polychrome and gold leaf, 42.5 x 112 cm (Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, Barcelona)


Enthroned Virgin and Child, Walnut with gesso, paint, tin leaf, and traces of linen, French


Cite: Berfu Durantas, "“Throne of Wisdom” sculptures," in Smarthistory, January 22, 2016, accessed September 18, 2020.




Comments

  1. Madison CunninghamSeptember 19, 2020 at 12:59 PM

    Emerald, thank you for sharing this! It's beautiful. I love that it is called the "Throne of Wisdom". I found the part where you mentioned "people believed that these statues were not not sculpted by man but were the spiritual embodiment of the Queen herself". I have not heard that statement from this era.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Amanda SantistevanSeptember 20, 2020 at 11:23 AM

    Great post, haven't seen too many posts comparing two different pieces of art, glad you did one. i think it is very interesting that these statues were used as props and offerings.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Justin DwinellSeptember 20, 2020 at 4:23 PM

    Emerald,

    I really enjoyed reading your post about the different images of sculptures of the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus. I didn’t know anything about the “Throne of Wisdom” before your post. It is truly interesting that some of these thrones were covered in gold. I also find it really interesting that these little pieces of art (Virgin Mary and baby Jesus) were carved in a bunch of different ways. What a very informational post.

    ReplyDelete
  4. CorinaSeptember 20, 2020 at 7:56 PM

    I liked how you compared two art pieces of The Virgin Mary. I also found it interesting that it was believed these sculptures weren't manmade. People actually believed they were created by "spiritual embodiments."

    ReplyDelete
  5. A lexSeptember 22, 2020 at 6:32 PM

    The work on the sculptures and proportions look very realistic compared to some of the similar artworks from this time. I wonder why sculptures like this aren't remembered the same as some of the paintings of this time. I.e. Works of giotto.

    ReplyDelete

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