Above is a painting entitled The Virgin and Child between St. James and St. Dominic by artist Hans Memling done in the years around circa 1485 to 1490. There are many religious icons/ figures used in this painting; some of the obvious ones are, as mentioned in the title, the Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, and her child, Jesus. Surrounding them are the two families/ followers of St James on one side and St Dominic on the other. This iconography seems to depict the rivalry between the two saints and yet that their goal is the same--to spread the word of Christ.
The above painting is by Johannes Vermeer, entitled The Allegory of the Catholic Faith, 1670-1672.
The idealized figure is the Catholic Faith, who adores heaven in the form of a glass sphere and dominates the globe (its mundane nature seems suggested by realistic description). In the foreground, the cornerstone of the church (Christ) crushes a serpent (the Devil) near the apple of original sin, which required the Savior's sacrifice. On the table, a crucifix, a chalice, a long silk cloth (perhaps a priest's stole), a large book (presumably the Missale Romanum), and a crown of thorns refer to the sacrament of the Eucharist, which was especially denigrated by Protestant critics of the time. The setting resembles a small chapel set up in a private house, as Catholic "hidden churches" were in the Dutch Republic. This late work was surely commissioned, probably by a patron who was learned as well as devout.
More To Come!
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