The Virgin in the Ghent Altarpiece and the Revelations of Saint Bridget of Sweden

Abstract

This article demonstrates that the Revelations were essential for the creation of a new iconography of the Virgin for the Flemish art of the first decades of the 15th century. The aim is that to analyze the wide-range of Brigittine texts that explain the symbolic elements of the painting which are related to the iconography of the Virgin, to her physical and symbolic features and attributes, and to Marian dogmas, especially those of the Perpetual Virginity, the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption. The depiction of the Virgin in the Ghent Altarpiece is, in many respects, brand new and reveals how the symbolism of the last medieval centuries had given way to the new demands of devotional and mystical literature. The interest in female mysticism within the territories of Flanders and Brabant dates back to the beginning of the 13th century, when the development of a new female religious movement took place. In this environment particularly sensitive to the feminine word, the works of Bridget could find the right reception and her Mariology could inspire the representation of the Virgin of the Ghent Altarpiece.