"Et Prima Vidit": The Iconography of the Appearance of Christ to His Mother

Author(s): James D. Breckenridge

Reviewed work(s):
Source: The Art Bulletin, Vol. 39, No. 1 (Mar., 1957), pp. 9-32
Published by: College Art Association
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 "ET PRIMA VIDIT":
THE ICONOGRAPHY OF THE APPEARANCE
OF CHRIST TO HIS MOTHER*
JAMES D. BRECKENRIDGE

Altarpiecehas long held

HEproblemof Rogervan der Weyden'sGranada-Miraflores
a fascinationfor students of Flemish painting, and has been the subject of a number
of penetratingstudies,the most recentand definitivebeing that in a sectionof Panofsky's
Early NetherlandishPainting.' Panofsky has here supplied a more comprehensibleanalysis of
the meaning of the triptychas a whole than had hitherto been discerned; as one aspect of this,
he has pointedout new facts revealingthe centralimportanceof the New York panel' both in the
interpretationof this triptych,and within the broaderframeworkof the general development of
Northern painting in the fifteenth century.
This panel (Fig. Io) has as its subject Christ's Appearanceto the Virgin Mary after his
Resurrection,an episode not recordedin any of the canonicalgospels; it has for some time been
recognizedthat the literarysourcefor the sceneas depictedby Roger was the Pseudo-Bonaventura's
Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ."The fact that Roger had availableto him models in
the figurativearts on which to base his composition,however, had not been generally appreciated
before Panofsky'spublication.No effort, in other words, appearsto have been made to examine
the literary and iconographichistory of this episode in Christianart as a whole, although a few
studies have gathered material on the sourcesor development of this theme with reference to
specificworks or geographicalareas (Spain in particular).
That the Pseudo-Bonaventurawas preeminentlyresponsiblefor the popularityof this subject,
and shaped the iconographyof most of its illustrations,cannotbe doubted. His Mirror, written
during the thirteenthcentury when the cult of the Virgin was at its zenith, had a tremendous
impact on religious imagery, in no case less powerful than in this scene, for which it supplied
a vivid, emotionallypotent, and clearly imaged text. The interpolationof the Virgin Mary into
the episodes of Christ'sministryafter the Resurrectionwas not, however, unprecedentedin the
literature of either the Eastern or the Western church at the time of the compositionof the
Mirror; althoughthe details suppliedthere are in many casesoriginalones, and although mention
* This study is dedicatedto the late Albert M. Friend, Jr. forthcoming Lexikon der Marienkunde. Miss Dorothy Miner
The writer is most grateful to the large numberof individ- has kindly offered many helpful suggestions in the course of
uals whose kindnessand generosity made possible its comple- the preparation of the manuscript.Dr. Gertrude Rosenthal
tion. He has tried to mention all those directly concerned and Dr. Cyril Mango have been of great assistancein many
with specific referencesor other information in the relevant ways; but neither they nor any of the others mentionedhere
footnotes; such mention is not sufficient,however, to indicate should be consideredresponsiblefor any of its shortcomings.
the debt he owes Dr. Erwin Panofsky, under whose generous, The writer hopes, on the other hand, that it will not be
illuminating (and patient) guidancethe study was begun, and considereda shortcoming that the study does not attempt to
has been carriedout. Dr. Panofskysuppliedthe information,as list all known examples of the iconography under examina-
well as the stimulation, which formed the nucleus of the tion, but simply the most outstanding or characteristicin-
paper, and has continuedto assist the writer in the course of stancesof the general types and phasesof its history.
its development.In addition, the writer owes a great deal to i. Cambridge (Mass.), 1953, pp. 259-264; 460-464.
the generous cooperationof Dr. Henriette Sallmann, who is 2. H. B. Wehle and M. Salinger, A Catalogue of Early
preparinga study of a slightly different aspect of the subject; Flemish, Dutch and German Paintings, N.Y., The Metropolitan
the freedom with which she has made her findings available Museum of Art, 1947, PP. 30-34; for subsequent bibliography
is attested by many citations in the notes which follow. The & discussion,cf. Panofsky, loc.cit.
same is true of Dr. Elisabeth Schiirer-vonWitzleben, who is 3. As by M. Salinger in a note on the painting in The
preparingthe articles on various aspectsof the subject for the Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, x, April, 1952, p. 216.
10 THE ART BULLETIN

of the episode is relatively rare prior to the thirteenthcentury, sufficientevidence is at hand to

prove that a belief in the probabilityof Christ'sbeing seen by his mother after the Resurrection
had existed for at least a thousandyears before Roger van der Weyden, and that descriptive
accountsof this meeting must have been a part of the devout tradition in virtually all parts
of the oecamenefor most of that period. In addition,we have adequatetracesof a pictorialtradi-
tion of this scene, which, together with the literary material, form an entire prehistoryfor the
subjectpriorto the date when the Pseudo-Bonaventura and Roger'sartisticpredecessorsestablished
what may be considereda "normal"iconography.
The formulation of a self-contained,apocryphaldescriptionof an Apparition, of the type
given in the Mirror,was a relativelylate development.Until this happened,we are dealing rather
with tentative revisions of the gospel narratives,in which the Virgin Mary has been inserted
either intentionallyor (possibly) by mistake,as a result of a desire to includeher in the significant
events of the last phase of Christ'sministry.As the personalityof the Virgin assumed greater
and greaterimportancein the church,the absenceof any mentionof her presenceat these crucial
events became literally unacceptable;in consequence,on the one hand efforts were made to
rationalizethe silenceof the Evangelists,while on the other hand the missing episode or episodes
came to be supplied by imaginativewriters.
The canonicalgospels, lamentably,are not in complete agreementas to the very sequenceof
events, much less the individualsinvolved, in the hours between the Crucifixionand the Resur-
rection.This circumstance,which exercisedthe ingenuity of innumerablelearned concordancers,
also made it possible for the devout person who wondered at the absenceof any mention of
Christ'smother in those events to see a way of giving her a part in them. Since this series of
events is interrelated,it may be well to compare first what the different gospels have to say
about them all: Crucifixion,Deposition, and Resurrection.
Viewing the Crucifixionfrom some distance,says Matthew 27:55-6, were many women who
had followed Christ'sministry, among them Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and
Joses,and the motherof Zebedee'schildren.Mark 15:40-I also says the womenwere some distance
away; he mentionsthe Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Less (n.b.) and Joses, and
Salome. Luke 23:49 mentions no specific individuals, merely says "the women that followed
Him from Galilee stood afar off." Only John 19:25 places some of the women right at the
Crossitself: the Virgin Mary, Mary the wife of Cleophas,and the Magdalene. This is the scene
in which Christcommendsthe Virgin to John's care
(I9:26-7).
At the Deposition, says Matthew 27:61, were Mary Magdalene and "the other Mary";
Mark I5:47 mentions the Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses. Luke 23:55-6 again
mentionsonly the "womenwhich camewith Him from Galilee"; while John 19:38-42 mentions
no women at all.
In Matthew 28:1-8, Mary Magdalene and the "other Mary" come to the sepulcher on Sunday
morning, find the tomb empty, and meet the angel who sends them to tell the Apostles that Christ
is risen. On their way (vv. 9-Io), they are describedas meeting Christ, and falling at his feet.
Mark 16:1-8 describesthree women going to the tomb and seeing the angel: Mary Magdalene,
Mary the mother of James, and Salome,the three that Mark placed at the Crucifixion.Later, he
mentions only the Magdalene as seeing Christ (vv. 9-Io). Luke 24:I-Io does not describe any
woman's encounterwith Christ, but lists those at the sepulcher who see the angel as Mary
Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and "others." John 20:1-18 describesa some-
what different sequence of events, involving, among the women, only the Magdalene: She goes
to the tomb and finds it empty; she fetches Peter and John, who see the same thing; then, when
she is alone once more, she sees two angels at the tomb. Finally, she meets Christ in the scene
known iconographicallyas the "Noli me tangere."
 "ET PRIMA VIDIT" 11

Thus, accordingto the canonicalgospels, not only does the identity of the women who saw
Christ differ, but even the numberof witnessesvaries, so that, iconographically,we are able to
distinguishthe sourceof the scene accordingto the numberof women presentat the scene called,
after the words of Matthew in the Greek, "Chairete":4If one, John; if two, Matthew; three,
Mark; more than three, Luke. None of the synopticsplaces the Virgin by name at any of the
events describedabove; John, who describesher at the Crucifixion,leaves no room for her
insertionin any of the later episodes.
In the centuriesfollowing the establishmentof the gospel canon, the Virgin assumedgreater
importanceto the faithful. Theologically, the problemof her physical and spiritualrelationship
to Christassumedimportancein the Christologicalcontroversiesof the fourth and fifth centuries;
but, in addition,an interest in the part she played in Christ'sministry (quite minimized in the
synopticsgenerally) can be found in the popularliterature,particularlyin the apocryphalgospels
which originatedin the first centuriesof the Christianera, and the influenceof which was never
entirely absent throughoutthe history of the Christianfaith.
In these apocrypha,which usually circulatedunder the putative authorshipof one or another
of the Apostles, the Virginwas a muchmore importantfigure than in the canonicalgospels; when
treating of the Resurrection,several of the apocryphainclude her in the group of holy women
visiting the tombof Christon Eastermorning,and otherwiseplace her in sceneswhere canonically
we findotherwomennamedMary.5This is the casein the so-called"Discourseon Mary Theotokos
by Cyril, Archbishopof Jerusalem,"'in which the Virgin is made to speak to the Apostles James,
Peter, and John, ten years after the Resurrection:"Ye saw the sufferingswhich the Jews in-
flictedupon Him when He was raisedup on the Cross,and that they put Him to death, and that
His Father raised Him up from the dead on the third day. And I went to the tomb, and He
appearedunto me, and He spake unto me, saying, 'Go and inform My brethrenwhat things ye
have seen. Let those whom My Father hath loved come to Galilee.'"1
Such transfersof episodesor attributesfrom one individualto anotherare far from rare in the
apocrypha;in this case, however,it becomesclear with the examinationof multiple examplesthat
they are neither accidental,nor ignorant, mistakes,but consciousattempts to increasethe part
played by the Virgin in the events of Christ'slife. Such consciousaccretionof attributesto the
Virginsassociatedher more definitely with these events, and particularlywith the Passion; and,
in a more general way, they served to emphasizeher humanity."This was also the purpose of

4. Cf. Panofsky, op.cit.,note225, pp. 365f. belongeth to Kleopa." I am Mary who belongeth to Iakkobos
5. Someof this materialhas beenstudiedrecentlyin a (James), the son of Joseph the carpenter,into whose charge
briefarticleby P. Bellet,"Testimonioscoptosde la aparici6nthey committedme.' " Budge, op.cit., pp. 629f.
de Christoresuscitado a la Virgen,"Estudios biblicos,xii, 9. This intent is expressedclearly in the prologue to the
1954, PP. 199-205. Discourse of Cyril: "This is the day (i.e., the day of the
6. E. A. Wallis Budge, MiscellaneousCoptic Texts in the delivery of the sermon) wherein the queen, the mother of the
Dialect of Upper Egypt, London, British Museum, x9x5, pp. King of Life, tasted death like every other human being,
6z6-651. Cyril (ca. 3xs-ca. 386) was Bishop of Jerusalem becauseshe was flesh and blood. And, moreover,she was be-
from 351; this text is merely an imitation of his twenty-firstgotten by a human father, and brought forth by a human
"Catechetical Lecture," which was written most probably mother, like every other man. Let Ebion now be ashamed,and
before 35o, accordingto Budge's introduction,p. lxxxvi. Harpocration,these godless hereticswho say in their madness
7. ibid., p. 643. that 'she was a force (or, abstractpower) of God which took
8. The Discourse of Cyrilof Jerusalem justcitedcontainsthe form of a woman, and came upon the earth, and was
a typicalexample whichis obviously in theaddress called "Mary," and this force gave birth to Emmanuel for
intentional,
of Maryto theBishopwhichopensthesermon: "Andbehold, us.'" ibid., p. 628.
the Virgin stretchethout her hand to me, saying, 'O Cyril, if An attempt to analyze the Christological content of these
thou wishest to know concerning my family, and concerning passageswould involve us in a discussionout of all proportion
the houseof my fathers,hearken. I wasa childpromised to to the frameworkof our presentstudy. Sufficeit to say that, in
God,andmy parentsdedicatedme to Him beforeI cameinto general, the works in which there occur passages referring
the world. My parentswho producedme were of the tribe of to the Virgin's participationin the events of the Resurrection
Judah and of the House of David. My father was Joakim, are, although apocryphalin content, theologically close to the
which is, being interpreted,"Kleopa." My mother was Anna, orthodox position, rather than partaking of either the Mo-
who broughtme forth, and who was usuallycalled "Mari- nophysiteor the Nestorianextremesof heresy.This, of course,
ham."I am MaryMagdalene,becausethe nameof the village is why their traditionsurvived and becamea part of the gen-
wherein I was born was "Magdalia."My name is "Mary, who eral body of orthodox belief.
 12 THE ART BULLETIN

the most carefullydescribedof these scenesfrom among the group of apocryphaderived from the
canonical"Chairete"or "Noli me tangere"scenes, that in the Gospel of the Twelve Apostles."'
An even more imaginativevariant of the Resurrectionstory exists, moreover, considerably
less indebtedto the details of the gospel narrative,and recallingin its imagerythe most elaborate
of the Copticapse paintings,replete with all the glories of the heavens and their hosts;" this
work, attributedat the time to the Apostle Bartholomew,representsthe farthest extreme from
the basicnarrativewhichwas the foundationof these apocrypha.
Concernover the lack of agreementamong the gospels on the part played by the holy women,
and particularlythe Virgin, in the events following the Crucifixionwas not confined,however,

io. E. Revillout,"Lesapocryphes
coptes,"Patrologiaorien- of James, whom Jesushad delivered out of the hand of Satan,
talis, II, 2, 1904, pp. I69f. "She [the Virgin] opened her and Salome the temptress, and Mary who ministered unto
eyes, for they were lowered in order not to view the earth, Him, and Marthaher sister,and Susannah,the wife of Khousa,
scene of so many dreadful events. She said to Him with joy, the steward of Herod, who had refused to share his bed, and
'Rabboni,my lord, my God, my son, thou art resurrected,Berenice, the fountain of whose blood Jesus had stopped for
indeed resurrected.'She wished to hold Him in order to kiss her in Capernaum,and Leah, the widow, whose son God had
Him upon the mouth. But He preventedher and pleaded with raised from the dead in Nain, and the woman who was a
her, saying,'My mother,do not touchme. Wait a little, for sinner, unto whom the Saviour said, 'Thy sins, which are
this is the garment which My Father has given me when He many, are remittedunto thee; go in peace.'These women were
resurrectedme. It is not possiblefor anything of flesh to touch standing in the garden of Philogenes, the gardener, whose
me until I go into heaven. son the Saviour had healed, and Simon, at the time when He
" 'This body is however the one in which I passed nine was coming down from the Mount of Olives, and all His
months in thy loins . . . Know these things, 0 my mother. Apostles. . .
This flesh is that which I received in thee. This is that which "And Mary said unto Philogenes, 'If thou art really he I
has reposedin my tomb. This is also that which is resurrected know thee.' Philogenes said unto her, 'Thou art Mary, the
today, that which now stands before thee. Fix your eyes upon mother of Tharkahariamath,'the interpretationof which is
my hands and upon my feet. O Mary, my mother,know that 'the joy, the blessing, and the gladness.' Mary said unto him,
it is I, whom thou hast nourished.Doubt not, O my mother, 'If it be thou who hast taken away the Body of my Lord, tell
that I am thy son. It is I who left thee in the care of John me where thou hast laid It, and I myself will carry It away.'
at the momentwhen I was raised on the cross. Philogenessaid unto her, 'O my sister, what is the meaning of
" 'Now therefore,O my mother, hasten to tell my brothers, these words which thou speakest, O thou holy Virgin, the
and say to them . . . "According to the words which I have mother of the Christ?'" Philogenes tells how he had urged
told to you, go into Galilee: You shall see me. Hasten, for it that the tomb in his own garden be used for the sepulcher
is not possible for me to go into heaven with my Father, no of Christs and how, when he came to anoint the body of the
longer to see you more."'" Lord, he saw the whole host of heaven singing hymns, and
Rivillout, on pp. 123-129, asserts that this is the text re- God the Father raising Christthe Son from the dead.
ferredto underthe name of the Gospel of the Twelve Apostles "And the Saviour appearedin their presencemountedupon
by Origen in the third century, and dates therefore from the the chariot of the Father of the Universe, and He cried out
secondcenturyA.D.This thesis was stronglycontestedby A. in the language of His Godhead,saying, 'Mari Khar Mariath,'
Baumstarkin Rivue biblique, n.s., III, 19o6, pp. 245-265. whereof the interpretationis, 'Mary, the mother of the Son of
Baumstark maintained that the published fragments do not God.' Then Mary, who knew the interpretationof the words,
pertain to the early, probably Gnostic, text mentioned by said, 'HrambouneKathiathariMioth,' whereof the interpreta-
Origen, but constitutea considerablylater productthat adopted tion is, 'The Son of the Almighty, and the Master, and my
a famous title to promote its own merits. The dating by Son.' And He said unto her, 'Hail, My mother. Hail My holy
R.villout, althoughhe nevercompletelyrefutedBaumstark'sark. Hail, thou who hast sustainedthe life of the whole world.
charges, has been more often acceptedby recent compilers of . . O My mother, go thou and say unto My brethren that I
early church literature(inter alia, B. Studle, Patrologia, have risen from the dead. Say thou unto them: I shall go unto
Freiburg-i.-B., 1937, p. 277; B. Altaner, Patrologie, Frei- My Father, Who is your Father, and unto My God and Lord,
burg-i.-B., 950o, p. 49). If the dating is correct, this text is Who is your Lord. Keep in remembranceall our words which
by far the earliestwe haveshowingthis tendencytowardthe I have spoken unto you . . .'
interpolationof the Virgin into the Resurrectionepisodes; the "Then the Saviour, the Life, our salvation, our King . . .
fullness of the narrativesetting would indicate, furthermore,a our Helper, our Hope, opened His mouth and cried out
highly advanced tradition bearing upon this scene. It is true, saying: 'Thou shalt take thy seat in My kingdom in blessing.'
however,thatwe havethe evidenceof Tatian,adducedbelow, O my brethrenthe Apostles, believe me, I Bartholomew,the
note 13, to give someconfirmation of the beliefin thisepisode Apostle of Jesus, saw the Son of God, standing upon the
at so early a date. chariot of the Cherubim.And round and about Him there
1i. This is in the Book of the Resurrectionof Christ by were standing thousandsof thousandsof the Cherubim,and
Bartholomew the Apostle, a work mentioned by St. Jerome, tens of thousandsof tens of thousandsof the Seraphim,and
and datingmostprobablyfromthe fourthcentury,although tens of thousandsof tens of thousandsof the Powers, and their
Bellet, loc.cit., believes certain parts date back to the third heads were bowed, and they made answer to the blessing,
and possibly even the second century. The text given by saying 'Amen, Hallelujah,' to that which the Son did speak
Budge, CopticApocryphain the Dialect of UpperEgypt, Lon- with His mouth to Mary. Then our Saviour stretchedout His
don, The British Museum, 1913, pp. 187-192, from which right hand, which was full of blessing, and He blessed the
the following excerpts are quoted, does not vary in this womb of Mary His mother. . . ." The womb of Mary is then
passage from that of Revillout, op.cit., pp. 188-194, where blessed by God the Father and by the Holy Spirit as well.
the Coptic text is also given. "These were the things which the Saviour spoke unto Mary
"And early in the morning of the Lord's Day, whilst it His mother. And Mary departed and made known to the
was still dark, the holy women came forth to the tomb, and Apostles that the Lord had risen from the dead, and had said
their namesare these: Mary Magdalene,and Mary the mother to her, 'Come ye to Galilee at dawn tomorrow, and I will
 I. The Holy Women at the Sepulcher and Christ Appearing to the Holy Women
Rabula Gospels (detail). Florence, Laurentian Library

2. Workshop of Pacino da Bonaguida, Scenes 3. Christ Appearing to the Virgin. London, Brit. Mus.
of the Resurrection. MS Roy. 2o B Iv, fol. I4I
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, Ms 94 (Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum)
(Courtesy Syndics of the Fitzwilliam Museum)

4-5. Christ Appearing to the Virgin. Paris, Bib. Nat.,

Ms fr. 9196, fol. 2o3v
 7. Christ Appearing to the Virgin. Baltimore, Walters Ms W. 289, fol. 34

6. Workshop of the Rohan Master

Christ Appearing to the Virgin
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
MS 62, fol. 26v (Courtesy Syndics
of the Fitzwilliam Museum)

9. Christ Appearing to the Virgin. Brussels, Bib. Roy. Ms II, 7831, fol. 44

8. Master of St. Mark, Christ Appearing to the Virgin

New York, Morgan Library
 "ET PRIMA VIDIT" 13

to the vulgar apocrypha.It was also shown by clerical writers from an early date, and occurs
frequentlyenough in their writingsto indicateboth an awarenessof the problemand a tendency
to solve it in a fashion closely parallel to that of the composersof the apocryphawe have been
considering.Already in the second century, Tatian, who was later condemnedas having lapsed
into heresy, but some of whose writingswere acceptedby the Syrianchurchfor centuries,seems
to have confusedthe Virgin Mary with the Magdalene in his accountof the episode of the "Noli
me tangere";2"but he also raisedthe point that was to becomethe fundamentalthesis of all the
most orthodoxwriterstouchingthe subject:that a meeting at which Christannouncedhis Resur-
rection to his mother was no less than a logical necessity in the completion of his ministry."
The fathers of the church first touched upon the matter from its periphery:Although they
hesitated to project their interpretationinto succeedingepisodes, both John Chrysostom"' and
Gregory of Nyssa,"l for example, identified the "Mary, the mother of James and Joses" of
Matthew 27:56 with the Virgin Mary, mother of Christ.In the sixth century,then, a whole corps
of Antiochenecommentatorstook the next step of equatingthis "Mary, the mother of James and
Jesus" with the "other Mary" of Matthew 28:I, to whom was vouchsafed the sight of the
Risen Christ: they include Severus of Antioch,"'the Pseudo-Victorof Antioch,"'and Anastasius
Sinaita,Patriarchof Antioch from 561."8
All of these writers,and thosewho followed them in turn,were in a sensederivingtheir interpre-
tationfrom that of Chrysostomand Gregory,makingonly a logical extensionof their thought; but
by the ninthcenturya new trendof interpretationbegan,as Giannellihas trenchantlypointedout."'
It occursearliest, so far as can be determined,in a Homily on the Presence of the Virgin at the
Sepulcher,by George, ninth centuryMetropolitanof Nicomedia.2" George of Nicomediaavoided
the pitfalls of Scripturalinconcordanceby suggesting that the Virgin can be assumed to have
been present at the sepulcheron Easter morning before the other women arrived; he intimated
that the reason she was not mentioned is that the texts speak only of the women who came
to the tomb; while she was already there. In other words, Christ'smother, the only one of his
followers to have had perfect confidencein his ultimate triumph,remainedat his tomb from the
time of its sealing until that of the arrival of the other women on Easter morning. George
describedthe long vigil by the silent tomb, and finally the prayerof Mary to her Son, in which
she expressedcomplete faith in his glorification,requestingonly that he vouchsafeher a glimpse
of him when he did arise from the dead: "When you have come, and the joy of Resurrectionis
accomplished,first of all appearto announcethis to your Mother." And so, although, as George
readily acknowledged,the Scripturessay nothing of it (for, he averred, it was not revealed to
give unto you My peace which My Father gave unto Me prudence in emending Chrysostom's text with the addition of
as I came into the world.'" the word "ressusciti" at a key point, ibid., p. io8, in his
12. Preserved in Ephrem Syrus' commentary on Tatian's translation. Under the circumstances, the statement that "l'autre
Diatessaron: J. B. Aucher and G. Moesinger, Evangelii Con- Marie, que Matthieu nous montre un peu plus loin assise, avec
cordantis Expositio facta a S. Ephraemo Doctore Syro, Venice, la Magdal&enne, . . . ne peut etre que la Vierge," remains
1876, pp. 268-270. This error may be the source of a variant Giannelli's own, and not that of Chrysostom.
reading to the same effect, in a work of the Pseudo-Justin, 1s. Migne, Patr. gr., 46, col. 648, overlooked by Gian-
Migne, Patr. gr., 6, col. 1293 note 72; the original text is nelli, who cites many of the authors mentioned in the remainder
Antiochene and of the late fourth century, but the date at of this section, and to whom I am indebted for some of the
which this variant entered cannot be determined. same citations.
13. Aucher and Moesinger, op.cit., p. 54: "Ita et post vic- i6. A homily dated to 515, in M.-A. Kugener and E.
toriam ab eo de inferis reportatam quum mater eum videret, Triffaux, Patr. or., xvi, Paris, 1922, p. 80o.
qua mater eum amplexari voluit." 17. In a catena published by J. A. Cramer, Catenae Grae-
14. Migne, Patr. gr., 58, col. 777. In a recent and most corum patrum in Novum Testamentum, I, Oxford, 1844, pp.
valuable article, C. Giannelli has drawn attention to this and 441-443.
other patristic writings bearing upon our subject: "Temoig- I8. Migne, Patr. gr., 89, cols. 809-8125 this was cited by
nages patristiques
" grecs en faveur d'une apparition du Christ Archimandrite Cyprian, in an article, "L'apparition du Christ
ressuscite la Vierge Marie," Revue des itudes byzantines, ressuscite," Pravoslvnaja mysl' (La pensee orthodoxe), viii,
XT, 1953 (Melanges Martin Jugie), pp. 0o6-Ix9. In his Paris, x951, pp. 86-i 2, as summarized by Giannelli, op.cii.,
effort to establish as early as possible a date for the introduc- p. x19.
tion of the Virgin into the Resurrection scene itself in patristic x9. ibid., p. ix6.
sources, Giannelli has somewhat overstepped the bounds of 20. Migne, Patr. gr., 100oo,cols. 1489-1504.
 14 THE ART BULLETIN

the Apostles at the time), the first appearanceof Christ was in fact made to his mother: and
George proceededto describeit, not at all in terms of the sort of encounterbetween two people
given by the gospels in the case of Mary Magdalene or the other women, but as a mighty vision
of glory,worthyonly of an apocalypse--orof just suchan apocryphal workas the Bookof the
Resurrectionof Christby Bartholomew the Apostle.Georgeof Nicomediais knownas one of the
moreindividualistic of the mid-Byzantine writers,takingfarmorethanmostof his contemporaries
from apocryphalsources,and composingsermonsupon subjectsoutsidethe scopeof ordinary
Byzantinereligiousdiscussion;21we may feel confidentthat he wouldnot have scrupledto use
just suchan apocryphal gospelas the sourcefor the descriptive partof his sermon,whileblending
his own peculiarlogic to the argumenthe wishedto make.
George'scontribution, then,wasto showa wayaroundthe vexatiousmatterof the re-identifi-
cationof the Marysat the tomb,by a bold interpolation of a whole new episode,ratherthana
rereading of the gospelnarrative as given; and he was not forgotten.His solutionis essentially
the one employedby severallater Byzantinewriterssuchas Metaphrastes,22 TheophanesKera-
meus, and GregoryPalamas.' In addition,at a fairly early date the idea foundits way into
the liturgyof the Easternchurch.25
It wouldhavebeensurprising if thistraditionof the Virgin'spresenceat theseeventshadfound
no reflectionwhateverin the visualarts of the East Christianworld,especiallyin view of the
fact that the "Chairete"scene,on whichexegeticalambiguityhad alreadyplayedits hand,was
sucha popularone in Byzantineart.26So it is thatat least two examplescanin factbe locatedin
thesixthcenturypaintingof SyriaandPalestine:a miniature of the Crucifixion
andthe Resurrection
in the RabulaGospels,datedto A.D.586-587,27in which,of two holy womenspeakingto the
angel at the tomband then kneelingbeforethe Risen Christ,one is distinguished by her halo
as the VirginMary (Fig. I);28 anda panelof Palestinianprovenance in Rome,of whichMorey
observed, "We learn also from our panel that 'the other of
Mary' Matthew,in the sceneof
Eastermorn,was supposedin Palestineto be the Virgin,sincethe samefigurein blackmantle
decoratedwith white spotsis used for the Virginof the Ascension."29This pinpointingof the
locusof originseemsto accordwith our literaryevidence,strongestin that area,and showingin
21. Cf. K. Krumbacher, Geschichte der byzantinischen had been a deacon in Beirut before coming to the Churchof
Literatur, Munich, 1897 (I. von Miiller, Handbuch der the Virgin in Constantinople.The canticle form itself was
klassischenAltertums-Wissenschaft, Ix, I), pp. i66f. not really new, but an adaptationinto Greek of an established
22. Migne, Patr. gr., x5, cols. 555f. Syriac hymn type. This sort of mobility both of people and
23. ibid., 132, cols. 62x-624. of practices within the greater Byzantine Empire does a
24. ibid., 151, cols. 235-248, a narrative embroidering lot to explain how little-known conceptssuch as this one were
directly upon the fabric of Matthew'sgospel; Christrefusesto able to circulateand appear,at fortuitousmoments,in widely
allow the Magdalene to touch him, but after she has gone, separatedareas.
his mother is permitted to touch his feet. Other liturgical citations of the Virgin Mary at the Resur-
25. Perhaps the earliest such occurrence,by implication at rection are mentionedby Giannelli, op.cit., and Bellet, op.cit.,
least, is to be found in one of the hymns of Romanos "the and are the principalsubject of Cyprian,op.cit.; one of them,
melodious,"the sixth centurypoet-clericwho introduceda new a disputed passage discussedby Giannelli, pp. ix6-Ix 9, is of
type of metrical hymn, the canticle or kontakion, into the interestto us in relation to much later iconographicaldevelop-
Constantinopolitanservice. At strophe 12 of his "Canticle of ments: Giannelli translates it as "Tu (Christ) as d6pouillH
the Virgin beside the Cross," the Virgin mourns that, once l'enfer sans en subir l'atteinte, tu as marche au devant de
her Son has died on the cross,she shall not see him again; and la vierge, au momentque tu donnaisla vie." Cf. the Bolognese
Christ replies from the cross, "Be of good courage, Mother, paintings of the late sixteenth century, discussed below in
since thou shalt be the first to see me from the tomb." (J. B. Section VIII.
Pitra, Analecta sacra spicilegio solesmensi,I, Paris, 1876, pp. 26. Cf. Gabriel Millet, Recherchessur l'iconographie de
101-107, tr. G. G. King, in "IconographicalNotes on the l'Evangile aux XIVe, XVe et XVIe siecles, Paris, 19x6, pp.
Passion,"ART BULLETIN, XVI, 1934, p. 296. Cf. M. Carpenter, 540-550.
"The Paper that Romanos Swallowed," Speculum,vil, 1932, 27. Repr. by Guido Biagi, Riproduzioni di manoscritti
pp. 3-22.) Although no canticle describing the Resurrection miniati: Cinquanta tavole in fototipia da codici della R.
itself has as yet been published,one is almost implied by this BibliotecaMedicea Laurenziana,Florence, 1914, pi. I.
statement, with the probability that it would include the 28. So recognizedby S. A. Usov, "The Significanceof the
presenceof the Virgin at some at least of its events. Word Deesis" (in Russian), Drevnosti Trudy Imp. Mosk.
In this connection, it is perhaps worthy of note that the Arxeol. Obscestva,xI, 3, 1887, pp. 58f.
legend which describeshow Romanos first came to compose 29. "The Painted Panel from the Sancta Sanctorum,"
a canticle describeshim as a native of Emesa in Syria, who FestschriftPaul Clemen, Bonn, x926, p. x66.
 "ET PRIMA VIDIT" 15

the case of Romanos "the melodious" an actual instance of its diffusion from that center into
other areas of the Byzantine world."8
The Virgin continuesto appearin occasionalminiatures,usually showing traces of a Syrian-
Palestinianarchetype,of the middle Byzantineperiod:examplesare in PetropolitanusxxI, a gospel
lectionaryof the 8-ioth century in the Leningrad State Library;"sGospel No. 5 in the library
of Iriwon monastery on Mount Athos;"8and the Freer Gospels No. 4 in Washington." In
addition, the scene finds its way to Western Europe in the twelfth century: the Virgin is dis-
tinguishedfrom the other holy women in a mosaicover the crossingof San Marco in Venice;8'
she is the only one with a halo in a twelfth centuryminiatureof the BreviarumFranconicumat
Cologne;"8and she is also singled out in an initial in the Codex Gisle of about 1300, in the Osna-
briickDomgymnasium."8 Interestinglyenough, it seems to survive in rare instancesright through
the Renaissance:one of Fra Angelico'sassistantsplaces Mary at the tomb of Christ in a fresco in
San Marco in Florence;"3and as late as about 1614, Rubens placed the Virgin in the center of
the group of holy women hearingthe words of the angels, in a paintingformerly in the Czernin
Gallery, Vienna.""
II
We have examinedevidence indicatingthat in the twelfth century the representationof the
Virgin Mary in the events of the Resurrectionbegan to occurin Western Europe; it would be
unusualindeed if there were not some evidencein the literatureof that area as well. The concept
was of courseby now familiar to Western commentators;already in fourth century Milan, St.
Ambroseexpressedthe idea that the Virgin deserved the honor of seeing Christ after his Resur-
rection,and the belief that such a meeting had in fact taken place: his words were, "Vidit ergo
Maria resurrectionemDomini: et prima vidit, et credidit."89Another Western writer, the poet
Sedulius,who seems to have lived in NorthernItaly in the first part of the fifth century,and may
have been in Greeceas well, apparentlywas awareof the Easternwritings that placed the Virgin
among the women at the tomb;'"he used this knowledge to enlarge upon Ambrose'sthought in
his descriptionof the Resurrection,where he laid great stresson the Ambrosianimageryparalleling
the Virgin birth and the Resurrectionitself, the womb and the tomb."'
But there would appearto have been a considerablelapse before the matterwas taken up again
in the West; of course,throughoutthe early Middle Ages, the matterof Christologicaldefinitions
was of far less importancein the West than in the Greek East. For the same reasons,the cult

30. On the other hand, we must take with a grain of salt 2." G. G. King had already pointed out that the contempo-
the descriptionof the tenth centuryChurchof the Appearance raneousdeliberationsof the Council of Florencemight account
of Christ to His Mother, adjoining the Magdalene chapel for certainother Easternelementsin other frescoesin S. Marco
of the Holy Sepulcher (Catholic Encyclopedia, viI, p. 427). done by Angelico himself; and she even found close precedents
According to Vincent and Abel, Jirusalem, II, 1914, pp. 255, in George of Nicomedia! (Op.cit., pp. 29If.)
257, we are dealing with a later retitling of a chapel on the 38. A. Rosenberg, P. P. Rubens (Klassiker der Kunst),
site of the "Noli me tangere" episode. Stuttgart,n.d., p. 79.
3'. Cited, with the following examples, by C. R. Morey, 39. Liber de Virginitate, I, iii, 14, in Migne, Patr. lat.,
"Notes on East Christian Miniatures," ART BULLETIN, XI, 16, col. 283. Ambrose'sdiscussionis particularly interesting
1929, p. 71, fig. 83; on pp. 70-73 Morey makes the point in that he relates the symbolismof Christ's unused tomb to
about the affinitiesof these miniaturesto pre-IconoclasticEast that of the Virgin womb so he remarksthat Christ'srising
Christianworks. from the dead repeats the Virgin birth.
32. C. R. Morey, East Christian Paintings in the Freer 40. Opera Paschale, v, in Seduliis Opera Omnia, ed. J.
Collection, N.Y., 1914, p. 57, fig. 28. Hiimer, Vienna, i885, p. 295.
33. ibid., pl. Ix. 41. CarmenPaschale,v, in ibid., pp. I4of.; and in Opera
34. ibid., p. 52, fig. 25. Paschale, v, pp. 297f. "Haec honorem Mariae praesentatet
35. Domarchiv, no. 215, fol. 88v; I am indebted to Dr. gloriam, quae, Domini cum claritate perspicuasemper mater
von Witzleben for this interesting example. esse cernatur, semper tamen virgo conspicitur. Huis sese
36. H. Schrade, Ikonographie der Christlichen Kunst, I: Dominus ilico post triumphumresurrectionisostendit, ut pia
Die dAferstehung Christi, Berlin, 1932, pl. 8, fig. 38a; genetrix et benigna talis miraculi testimoniumvulgatura, quae
Schrade'sinterestingstudy cites other examples,p. Io8. fecit nascentis ianua, dum venisset in mundum, haec esset
37. J. Pope-Hennessy,Fra Angelico, N.Y., 1952, p. x82, eius et nuntia deseruitisinfernum."
fig. xxi, and p. I85, no. 8, attributedto the "Master of Cell
16 THE ART BULLETIN

of the Virgin was of minor importancein that area during a period when, in Constantinople,it
came to assumepreeminentplace in the practiceof the faith. In the eleventh or twelfth century,
however, Latin writersbegan to take notice of the subject once more, just as it began to appear
in Western art, at a time when, as we are aware, the Crusaderswere bringing a flood of Greek
and other Easternmaterialfrom the Levant.
When such noticewas takenby Western writers,it tended to follow the approachof Ambrose,
i.e., that such an appearance,although unrecordedby the Evangelists, was a logical necessity,
which must be acceptedeven without Scripturalconfirmation.This attitude, as distinct from the
Easternone which sought to fit such an appearanceinto the recordedevents, representeda new
stage of interpretationwhich, finally, set the stage for the creationof a new and original icono-
graphicsetting for the episode. Such an opinionregardingthe occurrenceof a meeting was held
by Eadmer ( 064-II24), a follower of St. Anselm in England,'2 as well as by the German
Rupert of Deutz, writinglate in the twelfth century,"3 who took Christ'sappearanceto the Virgin
almost as a matter of course.It is clear that by the thirteenthcentury,a commonbody of belief
was in existencein the West, requiringonly a more concreteform of expressionin order to take a
permanentplace among the living images of the Christianfaith."
Just such a verbal image was provided, as we remarked,by the anonymousthirteenthcentury
authorknownas the Pseudo-Bonaventura,4" whose descriptionof the meeting between Christand
his mother in the Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christgave the scene a form which was to
influencenot only all future descriptions,but in one way or another virtually all the pictorial
representationswhichwere to be made of it:'4
42. De Excellentia Virginis Mariae, vi, in Migne, Patr. detailed illustrations of Christ's other appearancesare inter-
lat., 159, cols. 567-570. Preaching on the Joy of the Resur- preted as representing an appearance to the Virgin. One
rection, Eadmer says, "But if anyone should ask why the example of this is reproducedin F. Saxl and R. Wittkower,
Evangelists do not describe the resurrectedLord appearing British Art and the Mediterranean, London, 1948, pl. 27,
first and quickly to His sweet Mother, that He should mitigate fig. i, a twelfth centuryrelief from Durham which is classified
her sorrow, we reply what we have heard inquiring into this by the Index of ChristianArt as including an appearanceof
matter . . . ," and what he concludes is that the very narrative Christ to the Virgin; there is nothing in its iconography,
characterof the Gospelsmade it impossiblefor the Evangelists however, to indicate any variation in this relief from normal
to describethe transportsof joy which filled the Virgin when representationsof the two episodesof Matthew 28 and perhaps
she saw her Son after the Resurrection:for if her joy was so also Mark 16 or John 20: i.e., there is nothing to single out
great when He was alive, who can comprehendwhat it must one of these women as the Virgin Mary. (Saxl's and Witt-
have been when He arose from the dead? kower's book provides superb documentationfor the inten-
43. De Divinis Ocfiis, viI, 25, in Migne, Patr. lat., 170, siveness of Byzantine influence in the figurative arts in the
cols. 2o5f: "-. . cum redivivus Filius, illi ante omnes fortasse West from the twelfth century.
mortales, mortale Virginem nondefraudanshonore, victoriam Conversely, the Index correctly classifies as a "Noli me
suam annuntiavit..".." tangere" a miniaturefrom a sacramentaryproducedin Liege
44. "It is the common belief that Our Lord appearedfirst around 105oo (Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm.
of all to the Virgin Mary. The Evangelists,it is true, do not 23261, fol. 69r) which is illustrated in M. Rooses, Art in
speak of this; but if we were to take their silence for a denial, Flanders, N.Y., 1914, p. 11, fig. 2z, as a scene of Christ
we should have to conclude that the risen Christ did not once appearing to his mother. (Once again I am indebted to Dr.
appear to His mother . . .": Jacobus de Voragine, The Golden Sallmann.) The most recent studies of this manuscript,such
Legend, tr. Wyzewa, Paris, 1905, p. 221. as K. H. Usener, "Das Breviar CLM 23261 der bayerischen
These frequent references to the episode have led some Staatsbibliothekund die Anfinge der romanischenBuchmalerei
writers to infer that examples might have existed in the in Liittich," Miinchener Jahrbuch filr bildende Kunst, I,
figurative arts, distinct from those in which the Virgin is one 1950, pp. 78ff., concur in consideringthe scene an illustration
of the women at the Tomb, prior to the fourteenthcentury. of the appearanceto the Magdalene ratherthan to the Virgin.
Inter alia E. Maile, in L'art religieux du treizieme sitcle en Taken as a generalization,as dangerousas generalizations
France, Paris, 1923, P. 227, observes that the surviving always are, it would seem that there are no extant illustra-
panels of Christ'sAppearancesfrom the choir of Notre-Dame tions of an independentlyconceived scene of Christ'sAppear-
de Paris, dating from the late thirteenthcentury, follow the ance to his mother prior to about 1300.
Golden Legend quite closely5 he infers from this that one of 45. Identified with seeming correctness as Johannes de
the lost panels might have portrayed his appearanceto the Caulibus of San Gimignano, by P. L. Oliger, "Le 'Medita-
Virgin-but no evidence exists to prove or disprove such an tiones vitae Christi' del Pseudo-Bonaventura,"Studi frances-
assumption, save the fact that Voragine does not delineate cani, n.s., VII, 1921, pp. I43ff.5 n.s., vIII, 1922, pp. I8ff.
such a scene, but merely refers to its probability. (I am in- Discussion of the problem is not, however, quite concluded.
debted to Dr. Sallmann for bringing this interesting passage 46. I have modernizedthe English of The Mirrour of the
to my notice.) blessed lyf of Jesu Christ, Oxford, 19o8, pp. 261-263.
Similarly, from time to time some of the less explicitly
 "ET PRIMA VIDIT" 17

And then about the same time, that is to say early in the morning, Mary Magdalene, Mary, Jacob, and
Salome, taking their leave first of Our Lady, took their way toward the grave with precious ointments.
Dwelling still at home Our Lady made her prayer in this manner: "Almighty God, Father most merciful
and most pitying, as You well know, my dear Son Jesus is dead and buried. For truly He was nailed to the
cross and hanged between two thieves. And after He was dead, I helped to bury Him with my own hands,
Whom I conceived without corruption,and bore Him without travail or sorrow; and He was all my good,
all my desire, and all the life and comfort of my soul; but at last He passedaway from me beaten, wounded,
and torn. And all His enemies rose against Him, scorned Him, and damned Him; and His own disciples
forsook Him and flew from Him; and I, His sorrowful Mother, might not help Him. And as You know well,
Father of pity and of mercy, that have all power and might, You would not then deliver Him from cruel
death; but now You must restore Him again to me alive, and that I beseech Your high majesty. Lord, where
is He now, and why tarrieth He so long from me? God the Father, send Him, I pray You, to me; for my
soul may not be in rest until the time that I see Him. And my sweet Son, what doest Thou now? And why
abidest Thou so long ere Thou comest to me? Truly Thou saidst that Thou shouldst again arise the third
day; and is this not the third day, my dear Son? Arise up therefore now, all my joy, and comfort me with
Thy coming again, whom Thou discomfortestthrough Thy going away?"
And with that, she so praying, sweet tears shedding, lo suddenly Our Lord Jesus came and appeared to
her, and in all white clothes with a glad and lovely cheer, greeting her in these words: "Hail, holy Mother."
And anon she turning said: "Art Thou Jesus, my blessed Son?" And therewith she kneeling down honored
Him; and He also kneeling beside her said: "My dear Mother, I am. I have risen, and lo, I am with thee."
And then both rising up kissed the other; and she with unspeakablejoy clasped Him sadly, resting all upon
Him, and He gladly bare her up and sustained her.
This vivid and affecting narrative gave Pseudo-Bonaventura his great influence over subse-
quent popularizingnarrativesof the life of Christand of the Virgin; for the Mirror itself created
a new vogue for this type of easily assimilableretelling of the Scriptures.The scenewas mentioned
in such works of personal mysticismas the Revelationes of St. Birgitta of Sweden, who died in
1373,4 as well as in such narrativeworksas the Vita Jesu Christi of her contemporary,Ludolf the
Carthusian of Saxony.48
The latter work includes a brief chapterheaded, "Of the most glorious resurrectionof Jesus
Christ Our Lord, and how He appeared to Our Lady, His most holy mother," which is little
more than an abbreviatedversion of Pseudo-Bonaventura:On Sunday morning, after Christ
had risen, the holy women take leave of the Virgin, who remainsin her chambersprayingwhile
they go to the sepulcherwith their ointments.Christ appearsin the Virgin'sroom, and the two
embraceand speaktogether,thus celebratingthe firstEaster Sunday:"But the Gospelssay nothing
of this notable occurrence.Nonetheless we place it here in first place, for one should certainly
believe that it happenedthus; and the matter is even containedin full in a separatelegend of
the Resurrectionof Our Lord."49
Repetitionsand variantsof this story appearedtime and againin the literatureof the later Mid-
dle Ages, often without achievingmore than merely local circulation;some of these, which hap-
pened to have direct influence on specific works of art, will be mentioned in our examination of those
works. But there is one later redaction of the story, of wide popularity, which does deserve special
notice,both becauseof the novelty of its approach,and becauseit does introducesomenew elements,
as far as the West is concerned,in its descriptionof the scene which concernsus. This is the
Pdlerinagede Jisus-Christ,by Guillaumede Deguileville, one of a numberof "pilgrimages"put
into verse form in the fourteenthcentury; the one in questionwas composedaroundthe middle
of the century.In this narrativelife of Christ,written with emphasisupon his status as a pilgrim
through life, a lengthy descriptionof the meeting of Christ and the Virgin is inserted into the
47. Revelationes,xx,Rome, 1628, p. 164. Cf. King, op.cit., 1S59, fol. 236.
pp. 295f. 49. It would be interestingto know to what specificlegend
48. Ludolphus Saxoniae, Vita Jesu Christi, xx, 70, Lyons, Ludolf refers.
18 THE ART BULLETIN

Resurrectionnarrative,but placed after the episodeof the supperat Emmaus,although referring

specificallyto the firstmomentsof Eastermorning."This passageis remarkablein that it resembles,
in some aspects,the version of the episode which we last encounteredin the text of George of
Nicomedia:the Virgin'svigil by the sepulcherfrom Friday until Sundaymorning,followed by a
vision of angels, and of the glories of the Resurrectionitself; then, while the holy women visit
the now empty tomb, Christhimself appearsin triumphbefore his mother, and two hold converse
rather in the manner of Ludolf's or Pseudo-Bonaventura'snarratives.The "Pelerinage" thus
seems to embodya conflationof the two types of accountwith which we have dealt thus far; the
interestingthing is that, as we shall see below, when the "Pelerinage" came to be illustrated,
although its miniaturesapparentlywere specially adapted to its content, there are no known
illustrationsof the more visionaryor apocalypticsectionsof the text.
Whatever the processof transmissionmay have been by which the early Syrianlegend found
its way, in greatly amplifiedform, into the popularliteratureof Western Europe of the late Gothic
period,it should be clear now that we deal in the later Middle Ages not with originalinventions
producedex nihilo by authorsof the thirteenthand fourteenthcenturies,but with these authors'
codificationand amplificationof a body of legend present, although uncommonly,in the written
traditionof the Church,and thus most probablyin the wider oral traditionof the laity, throughout
most of the entire Christianera. Its acceptanceinto semi-ecclesiasticalliterature,and thence into
art, may therefore be seen as one of the numerousresults of the contemporaryefforts of the
clergy to "popularize"their religion, its mysteries,and the personalitiesof its principalfigures.
III
The earliestexamplesof the scenesof Christ'sAppearanceto his mother in the figurativearts
date from the first half of the fourteenthcentury; interestinglyenough, the three instancesof its
occurrenceanteriorto 135o are from two wholly differentparts of Europe, and betray a totally
different character,stylistically as well as iconographically.
The firstappearanceof our sceneseems to be in the PassionaleKunigundae,a manuscriptbegun
in I312 by the CanonBenesiusfor the daughter of King Ottokarof Bohemia; Kunigundewas
Abbessof the Monasteryof St. George on the Hradschin,where the manuscriptwas preserved."
The miniaturein questionshows Christ, bearingthe wounds of the cross, embracinghis mother
as Pseudo-Bonaventuradescribes;despite a marked sense of plasticityin the delineationof the
figuresthemselves,the miniatureas a whole is unmistakablyGermanicin its linear strength, and
in the sense it gives of almost frenetic passion:in the intense embraceof the two figures at the
first moment of joyful recognition, the artist captures exactly one aspect of the Mirror's narrative.
In other respects,however,the artistis not so faithful to what we presumeto have been his sources,
since the setting is not indoors,but on a roughly indicatedscrapof rocky soil, where the figures
standinsteadof kneel---anindication,perhaps,that the artist retainedan awarenessthat the other
appearancesto the holy women took place out of doors.
This scheme of organizationof the subject, fundamentallya new invention, does not seem
to have been copiedimmediately; instead,as we shall see below, it reappeareda centurylater in
Germanpopularart, in the woodcutsthat circulatedso widely in the fifteenthcentury(cf. Fig. 12).
No more characteristic differentiationof the styles of the North and the South of Europe could
be made than in comparingthe Passionaleminiaturewith anotherearly occurrenceof our subject,
in the frescoes of the Church of Sta. Maria Donnareginanear Naples, executed by a painter

50. Le Pilerinage JhIsucrist de Guillaume de Deguileville, telalter bis zum Ende der Renaissance,I, Berlin, 19x3, PP.
London, The Roxburghe Club, 1897, PP. 318-327. i59f. and fig. iSo, as the "Noli me tangere."
5x. F. Burger, Die deutscheMalerei vom ausgehendenMit-
 "ET PRIMA VIDIT" 19

of the school of Cavallini about I320-I33o."2 Here we have little passion, no frenzy, but rather
a soberdelineationof the encounterof two persons,taking place in the prescribedinteriorsetting.
Oppositea representationof the "Noli me tangere"meeting with the Magdalene, we see Christ
facinghis mother,who looks at him over a low barrieror wall. The artisthas chosen,with charac-
teristic Mediterraneanclassicism,not the moment of passionateembracewhich appealed to the
Germanicartist,but the poised instantof first recognition,the moment before words are uttered,
before any movementtakes place. Action (as well as emotion) is potential in the Italian picture,
rather than realized as the Germanartist expressedit.
Closely relatedis a third illustrationof this scene,Florentinein originand closely contemporary
to the Naples fresco:it is one of the subordinateborderminiatureson a sheet of the Resurrection
now in the Fitzwilliam Museum (Fig. 2)," attributedby Offner to the school of Pacino da
Bonaguida,"an artist whom the same scholar believes to have received some of his training in
Rome, that is to say, in the environmentof Cavallini."5In this miniature,the poses of Christ
and his motherresemblethose at Sta. MariaDonnaregina,but they meet before a hangingdrapery,
an indicationof the indoor setting, with no barrierto separatethem.
Thus there would seem to have been establishedearly in the fourteenth century two iconog-
raphiesof this scene--one Nordic, emotional,interpretivemore of the contentof the episode than
of its externaldetail; the other Latin, serene,and yet by and large more literal in its transcription
of the externalsof the scenePseudo-Bonaventuradescribed.
It would be of great importanceif we were able to establishsome iconographicprototype for
either of these types of illustration.In many cases of iconographicresearch,where an illustration
is linked to a specifictext or group of texts, a manuscripttraditioncan be establishedwhich is the
vehicle of transmissionof a standardiconographyto other, less viable media; so it might be in this
case, but our evidenceis insufficientfor absoluteproof.
Although illustrated manuscriptsof both Pseudo-Bonaventura'sMirror and Deguileville's
Pelerinage have survived, they are unfortunatelytoo late in date to provide evidence for the
existenceof a manuscripttradition for this scene at the time of its earliest appearancein other
contexts.We are particularlyunluckyin that the earliestextant illuminatedmanuscriptof Pseudo-
Bonaventura,a copiouslyillustratedone that is probablySieneseand dated to about 1360, in the
BibliothequeNationale, Paris," is incomplete,and lacks the final pages in which our text was
contained.As a result, although the state of the manuscriptindicatesthat it was copying a model
which had a very full series of illustrations,we have no way of ascertainingwhether or not our
particularscene was illustrated,and if it was, what its iconographicscheme might have been.
The only illustratedmanuscriptof Pseudo-Bonaventurain which our scene does occuris a con-
siderablylater one, a provincialFrench manuscriptof about 1422 now in the British Museum."
In this manuscript,Meiss has noted" that the miniaturesshow a good deal of divergencefrom the
text, which is not the case in the Paris manuscript.While actual disparitywith the text is not
evident in the miniatureof our particularepisode, it is unique among our examples in combining
two representationsof Christwithin one frame: one of him showing his wounds, and holding his
cloak open wide, as he standsfacing the kneeling, prayingVirgin; and the other of him looking
backover his shoulderas he stridesout of a door to the left, carryinga crosson the same shoulder

52. G. Chierici, II restaurodella Chiesa di S. Maria Don-
naregina a Napoli, Naples, 1934, pl. xxxv.
53. Cambridge,Fitzwilliam Ms 94 (M. R. James, A De-
scriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Fitzrilliam
Museum, Cambridge,1895, p. x59).
54. R. Offner, Corpusof Florentine Painting III:II, Part I,
N.Y., 193o, p. 26 and pl. x.
55. Studies in Florentine Painting, N.Y., 1927, p. 17.
56. Bib. Nat. MSital. xs; I owe my information on this
manuscriptto Dr. Rosalie B. Green, Director of the Princeton
Index of ChristianArt, who has been most helpful in many
phases of researchon this subject.
57. Ms Roy. 20 B Iv, fol. 141 (cf. Sir George F. Warner
and Julius P. Gilson, Catalogueof WesternManuscriptsin the
Old Royal and King's Collections,II: Royal Manuscripts,Lon-
don, British Museum, 1921, pp. 36of).
58. In a communicationto the Index of ChristianArt.
20 THE ART BULLETIN

(Fig. 3). The setting, a small, vaulted room with mullioned window, conformswith the text's
requirements;it is quite possible that we are here dealing with a conflationof two consecutive
miniaturescovering this episode in the text.
Comparabledensity of illustrationmay be seen in two fifteenth century French manuscripts
of Deguileville: the first, dating early in the century,is in the BibliothequeNationale,"5and con-
tainsnot one but two miniaturesportrayingslightly differentmomentsin the scene of the meeting
(Figs. 4, 5); while the other, from the workshopof the Rohan Master, and datableto ca. 1420-
showsstill a third pose of Christand the Virgin (Fig. 6)."* In all three of these miniatures
143o,60
although the specialrequirementsof Deguileville's text are followed in such respectsas Christ's
pilgrim costume, setting, etc., there is nothing so individual about the formal arrangementof
the figures as to indicatea particulariconographictraditioninherent in this specifictext and its
recensions;nor, as we have already remarked,are the truly original features of Deguileville's
text illustratedat all.
As regards Ludolf's Vita Christi, we have no manuscriptilluminationswhatsoever, to my
knowledge,and only a woodcutin a printededition of the text, publishedat Antwerpin I487;12
iconographicallyas well as stylistically the woodcut of Christ'sAppearanceto the Virginwould
seem to reflect popularFlemish art of the period, as do the other woodcutsin the book,"'rather
thanany internaliconographictraditionderivedfrom the text itself. Certainof its details, however,
while not uncommonin other picturesof the later fifteenthcentury,can be tracedas far backas a
miniaturein a FrenchBook of Hours in the Walters Art Gallery, dated to about 1425 (Fig. 7); 8"
its architecturalsetting, utilizing the outdoorview beyond the porticoin which the Virgin prays,
conformsto Ludolf's narrativeflow which emphasizesChrist'sdirect arrival from Purgatory to
greet the Virgin. In addition, the contrappostoof the Virgin's pose, kneeling with back turned
to Christ,and turningonly her head and shouldersas she perceiveshis presence,so evident in the
woodcut,seems to occurearliest in this miniature.
If we return, however, to the earliest examples of the scene of Christ's appearance,in the
fourteenthcenturywe find a consistencyin iconographyamong a group of workswhich strongly
suggests the interpretationthat an established tradition existed for the representationof this
scene; and, if this was so, we find a strong suggestionthat its point of origin was in Italy. While
such a hypothesisremainsconjecturalin the extreme, such a source for this iconographyas the
presumedmodel for the Paris Mirror would not be unlikely.
After the first three, our next earliest exampleis found not in Italy at all, but in Catalonia,in
the third quarterof the fourteenthcentury,in a vignette of a polyptych in the Morgan Library
attributedby Meiss to the Master of St. Mark (Fig. 8):"6 but it is significantthat, as Meiss's own
work indicates,this was a product of a phase of Catalanart characterizedas a province of the
Tuscan,so that we might well considerthis instanceof our scene as virtually an Italian product-
especiallyin view of the extremerarityof this iconographictype in Spain.The picturein question
portraysChrist's appearance,in an interior architecturalsetting, as he stands blessing with his
left (!) hand, graspingthe staff of the crosswith his right; the Virgin kneels on the left, facing
59. Bib. Nat. Ms fr. 9196. This manuscript was brought to edition of Ludolf's work appeared at Cologne as early as
my attention by Prof. Meiss. Both miniatures are on fol. 2o3v. 1472.
60. Cf. J. Porcher, "The Models for the 'Heures de 63. The woodcuts are the work of several different hands,
Rohan,' " Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes perhaps not all executed for this specific publication. The
VIII, pp. i-6. editor attributes no. 121 to the so-called "Haarlem Master."
61. Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Ms 62, fol. 62b (James, op.cit., 64. Ms W 289, fol. 34. This miniature was brought to my
p. 159). attention by Miss Dorothy Miner.
62. Tboek vanden Leven Ons Heeren Jesu Christi (Geeraert 65. M. Meiss, "Italian Style in Catalonia and a Fourteenth
Leeu, Antwerp, 1487): reproduced in Uitgave van de Vereen- Century Catalan Workshop," Journal of the Walters Art
iging der Antwerpsche Bibliphielen, Reeks 2, no. 3 (ed. L. Gallery, IV, 1941, pp. 45-87.
Indestege), Antwerp, 1952, Illus. no. 121. The first printed
 "ET PRIMA VIDIT" 21

him with hands claspedbefore her. In point of fact, this pictureis, in the poses of the principals,
almostan exactmirrorimage of the miniaturefrom the shop of Pacinoda Bonaguidaof Florence.
Virtually identical poses are to be noticed again in an Artois manuscript,dating about 1390,
which marksthe first occurrenceof the scene in the Low Countries(Fig. 9).8" In the same tradi-
tion, but beginningto show tracesof variation,is anotherFlorentineminiature,dating from about
14oo00and the work of the school of Spinello Aretino." No setting is indicated,but the Virgin
kneels close enough to her Son to appearto kiss his wounded side, while the latter, passing his
right arm about her shoulders, bears with his left the triumphal banner of the Resurrection.
The poses are not too dissimilar from those of the other works we have just examined, but
increasedemphasisis here being placed on the significanceof Christ'swounds.68The basicgroup-
ing of the figures of Christ and his mother, however, seems to be characteristicof all these
examplesfrom the secondhalf of the fourteenthcentury;if any sort of manuscripttraditionexisted
for the illustrationof this episode,this, in its general outlines,must have been it.

IV
If the subjectof Christ'sAppearanceto his Mother had become,by 1400, familiarall the way
from Italy to the Low Countries,there was at least one countrywhere it had not been acclimated--
where, in fact, it seems to have been consciouslyrejected, in the form we have examined,in favor
of another type of scene. This countrywas Spain, and more specificallyCataloniawhere, after a
solitaryappearancein the Morgan polyptych (accepting,as we do, Meiss's attributionto a Catalan
atelier), the scene derived from Pseudo-Bonaventuradrops out of sight. In its place there was
invented an iconographicnovelty seemingly peculiarto Spain,which seems to have nothing to do
with the Pseudo-Bonaventura'stext, or with any other late mediaeval source of which we are
aware.This consistsin the introduction,into a conventionalpictureof the Resurrection,of the figure
of the Virgin Mary, looking on throughthe window or doorwayof a house adjoiningthe garden.
This novel iconographyseems to have begun as the personalidiosyncrasyof one painting family,
that of the brothersSerra,who dominatedthe generationthat made Catalanart somethingmore
than just a provinceof Tuscanpainting:their choiceof this novelty might even seem symptomatic
of that declarationof independence.The subject remained more or less specifically Catalan
throughoutthe centuryor so duringwhichit remainedpopular.
In establishinga date for the introductionof this novelty, we have what would appearto be a
convincingterminuspost quem in one of the earliestworksof either brother,the retable of Fray
Martin de Alpartil in Saragossa,which can be identifiedas the work of Jaime Serraand dated to
1361.e"In this altarpiecewe find that the panelshowingthe Resurrectionis of conventionalSpanish
mediaevaltype, with the figure of Christ shown rising from the open tomb in the presenceonly
of the sleeping soldiers. This is the only such "normal" Resurrectionscene painted by either
brother; on what is apparentlythe next occasionwhen Jaime portrayedthe event, in the Sijena
Retable," he inserted a bust figure of the Virgin, looking on through a window in the garden
wall. Once established,the type was used several times by one or the other of the Serrabrothers:
66. Brussels,Bibl. Roy., MS II, 7831 (ex-Coll. Colbert de 69. C. R. Post, A History of Spanish Painting, II, Cam-
Beaulieu); i first published by L. Mourin, Scriptorium, I, 1946- bridge, 1930, p. 225, fig. 149.
1947, PP. 75ff.; cf. Panofsky, Early Netherlandish Painting, 70. ibid., II, p. 237, fig. x53. It is tempting to enlarge upon
I, p. 263. the superficial resemblancebetween this scene and that at
67. Chantilly, Musbe Conde: Photo Giraudon 7389. Cited S. Maria Donnaregina; but it must be rememberedthat in the
by Meiss, op.cit., p. 66 n. 44. latter case we deal with a separate scene of the meeting,
68. Remarked by Panofsky, op.cit., I, pp. 263f., as of taking place over a low wall or barrier; this is fundamentally
increasing importancefrom the start of the fifteenth century. differentfrom Serra'sconceptof a Resurrectionscene in which
Meiss, loc.cit., also cites a Tuscan panel in a Paris private the Virgin appearsas a witness,with no communicationtaking
collection which is of about the same date, and has this place between the two principals. If there is any slight rela-
subject; but neither the panel, nor a photograph of it, can tionship between the two iconographies,it is not susceptible
now be located. of proof with the evidence now at hand.
22 THE ART BULLETIN

in the ManresaRetableby Pedro, datableto 1393-I394,"' and in the Abella de la ConcaRetable,of

about the same date, which is probablyby Jaime;'"and in a contemporarypanel which may be
a collaborativework."7It was followed by other artists of their school, such as Domingo Valls"
and the Cubells Master,"'both of whom were active towardthe close of the fourteenthcentury;
and it survivedin Cataloniaas late as 1457, when Jaime Ferrer included the figure of the Virgin
Mary in a panel of the Resurrectionhe painted for the Retable of the Iglesia de la Sangre at
Alcover."'At about the same time, it appearsin a panel by the Bacri Master, one of a group of
Aragonesepaintersidentified by Post as being strongly under Catalan influenceas then mani-
fested by the style of Huguet."
This introductionof the Virgin Mary into the scene of the Resurrectionis, as we have seen,
in no way derived from the legends of Pseudo-Bonaventura,or of Ludolf of Saxony (who was
far more widely knownin Spainat this period); it seems to hark backrather to those apocryphal
Coptic and SyrianResurrectionscenes, and has actually been consideredto be a direct product
of Spanishfamiliaritywith the Greek texts of such writers as George of Nicomedia."7There is,
on the other hand, the evidence of contemporarytexts such as Deguileville (composed in the
vernacularFrenchratherthan in Latin, and consequentlynot apt to be circulatinginternationally
at this early a date; we do not suggest that this specifictext was influentialin Catalonia)that the
idea of the Virgin'shaving been a witness of the Resurrectionitself, as distinct from the legend
of Christ'sappearanceto her, was not unfamiliarelsewherein Western Europe as well as in Spain.
With the constantinterchangeof texts and legends begun by the Crusades,it is all but impossible
to hope to unravel,in a case of this type, the precisederivationsof a given iconographictype.
Whatever the motivationmay have been for the Serras' novelty, the fact remains that the
"traditional"iconographyof Christ'sappearance,based as it is more or less directly upon that
of the "Noli me tangere,"never establishedany firm foothold on the Iberianpeninsula; when,
late in the fifteenthcentury,strongFlemish influencereintroducedit to Spain,it was soon replaced
again by another,and equally novel, Spanishinvention.
V
Such was the situation,iconographicallyspeaking, at the time that Roger van der Weyden
createdhis version of our scene. There was in existencea widely distributediconography,based
in a general way upon that of the "Noli me tangere,"and quite probablyItalian in origin, which
had reachedFlanderstowards1400; while anothertype, limited to Spainbut quite popularthere,
simply made of the Virgin a witnessat the scene of the Resurrection.Our only documentfor the
penetrationof the "Italian" type into the Low Countriesprior to 14oo is the Artois manuscript
"Ci Nous Dist," a vernacularcompilationof narrativepassageswhich we have already noticed,
containinga miniatureof Christand the Virgin (Fig. 9) at the head of a passagerepeatingthe
story of the Appearancein simplifiedterms, with stress upon the symbolismof light as it is used
in the whole of the Easter story. The two figures in the miniaturehave the poses we have noted
in the Florentine miniature,Fitzwilliam 194 (Fig. 2), as well as in the panel by the Master
of St. Mark (Fig. 8): The Virgin kneels indoors,hands uplifted in prayer,before the standing
Christ, who blesses her with his right hand, and clasps his mantle with his left; Panofsky has
71. G. Richert, Mittelalterliche Malerei in Spanien, kata- 1941, p. 580, fig. 271 n. i). Cf. Saralegui, Museum, VII,
lanische Wand- und Tafelmalerei, Berlin, 1925, fig. 39. 1933, pp. 287-289; Photos Mas I1980C-II984C.
72. S. Sanperey MiquelandJ. Gudiol,Elstrescentistes, II, 76. Post, op.cit., VII, 2, 1938, pp. 527-530, fig. 194.
Barcelona1922,p. 45, fig. IS. 77. Paris, at Bacri Freres (ibid., vIII, i, p. 32, fig. 12). In
73. In the Muse des Arts Decoratifs,Paris: Post, op.cit., II, this case, however, the Virgin witnesses the scene through
pp. 280-282, fig. 172. a doorway, rather than through the window as in the classic
74. A panel in the Muntadas Coll., Barcelona (ibid., Iv, 2, Catalan iconography.
1933, p. 6o0). 78. Cf. G. G. King, op.cit., p. 298, and her opinion as
75. Two panels in Barcelona private colls. (ibid., VIII, 2, cited by Post, op.cit., Iv, 2, p. 6o0 n. 2.
 "ET PRIMA VIDIT" 23

already noted the slight recoil of the figure of Christ, a detail recalling specificallythe older
theme of the "Noli me tangere."
These are the same poses used by Roger, except that Christ'sleft hand, insteadof holding his
mantle in place, is raised parallel with his right (Fig. Io);' the Virgin'spose is closely similar
to that of her prototype,althoughher body is partiallyturnedin contrapposto,a more complex or-
ganization(and at the same time one even more consonantwith the originaldescriptionof Pseudo-
Bonaventura)than that attemptedin the tiny miniatureswhich were presumablyRoger's icono-
graphicguides. That he knew any of the survivingrepresentationsof this scene is of courseboth
undemonstrableand highly improbable;but his paintingcorrespondstoo closely to their common
characteristicsfor the resemblanceto be only fortuitous.They must representthe type of illustra-
tion he used as his model.
Roger'spanel is the right wing of an altarpieceof the Virginwhichwas executedfor Juan II of
Castile,most probablyjust before or after 1438. The left panel shows the Adorationof the Infant
Christ,while the centralone portrayshis Lamentation;each of the scenesis enclosedby a Gothic
archin grisaille representingthe sculpturedstone of a churchportal. SincePanofsky'sanalysisof
this altarpiecehas elucidatedits meaningboth as a whole and in its details,80we shall only sum-
marize his points aboutour own panel as they affect the subjectunder examination.
The resurrectedChrist is seen at the moment that he confrontshis mother; as he approaches
from the spectator'sleft, clad in a red mantle, he draws back at the last instant with that same
gesture of recoil which we have noted derives originally from the "Noli me tangere." Mary
herself, who wears a blue robe with its hem embroidered(as in the other panels) with the words
of the Magnificat,turns from her reading to behold him; she is still seated, surprisedand, as
yet, still sorrowing; her gesture is an instant past that of prayer seen in earlier representations
such as that of the "Ci Nous Dist" manuscript,and suggests that surpriseand the joy of recog-
nition are just dawningupon her.
The setting is a vaulted Gothicchamber,beyond the open doors of which is visible a landscape
where the Resurrectionitself is takingplace: Christrises from the tomb in the act of benediction,
but is seen only by a single angel, while the three soldier-guardianssleep, and the three women,
approachingin the distance,are yet too far removed to witnessthe momentousscene.
The voussoirsof the framingarch containfigured scenes,counterfeitingsculpture,which when
linked with the principalsubject,form a connectednarrativeof the Life of the Virgin. Below the
arch, on colonnettepedestals,are the figures of SS. Mark and Paul with their attributes;while
within the actualchamberwhere the Appearanceis taking place, two of the four column capitals
supportingthe vaulted roof are decoratedwith Old Testament scenes which, accordingto the
Speculum humanaeSalvationis,prefigured the events of Christ's Resurrection.8At the crown
of the framing arch an angel holds a crown and a scroll which, as in the other panels of the
triptych,makesexplicitthe importanceof the Virgin'srole in the Act of Redemption.82
79. The fact that this function is performed instead, and p. 32, mistakenly identify this scene as Daniel's experience
most awkwardly, by Christ's right forearm, has become the with the same animal, an error correctedby Panofsky, op.cit.,
crux of the controversyover the date of the GranadaAltar- I, p. 463 n. 2638); and Samson'scarrying off the Gates of
piece, for which cf. Panofsky, op.cit., I, pp. 263f. For our Gaza prefigures the Resurrectionitself: Speculum humanae
purposes,a date ca. 1438 is satisfactoryenough; the problem Salvationis,xxxiI, 37-50 (Lutz and Perdrizet, p. 66 and pls.
of priority in date between this painting and the Werl 63-64).
Altarpiece of the Masterof Fl6malle doesnotconcern us in 82. Panofsky, op.cit., I, p. 461 n. 26ox, gives the text as
this context. read from the Berlin-Miraflorestriptych, and indicates that
80. OP.cit., I, pp. 259-264, 460-464. Wehle and Salinger'sreading,loc.cit., is in error.While certain
81. David's defeat of Goliath prefigures Christ's conquest misreadingsin the latter's text are evident upon rechecking
of Satan'stemptations:SpeculumhumanaeSalvationis,xIII, 73- the panel in the Metropolitan Museum, which Miss Salinger
82 (ed. J. Lutz and P. Perdrizet,Leipzig, 1907, p. 29 and pls. very kindly did with the writer, it is still difficultto reconcile
25-26) ; Samson'svictory over the lion forecastsChrist'sover- the whole text as inscribedthere with that given by Panofsky.
powering of the princes of darkness:ibid., xxix, 49-66 (Lutz Had the Granada panels not been mutilated at the tops, it
and Perdrizet,pp. 6of.; pls. 57-58; Wehle and Salinger,op.cit., would be possible to compare all three text passages on the
24 THE ART BULLETIN

The altarpieceas a whole, as Panofskyshows, was arrangedto portraya connectedsequenceof

episodes from the Life of the Virgin, with three of these episodes singled out for emphasisas
foci of the three panels; these three, moreover, have been chosen to stress the Virgin's relation
to Christ.The rarityof the sceneof Christ'sappearanceprior to Roger's choosingit for this altar-
piecegives riseto somespeculationas to why it waspickedon this occasion;our only clue seemsto lie
in the fact that the altarpiecewas a Spanishcommission,and we have some evidence,as adduced
herewith,that in fifteenth centurySpain the subject of the Virgin'sparticipationin the events of
the Resurrectionseems to have been particularlycurrent.It is also conceivablethat Roger com-
bined the Resurrectionscene with that of the Appearancebecauseof an awarenessof the Catalan
Resurrectioniconographywe examinedin the last section. Once again, we are in the realm of
hypothesis; but it would seem worth consideringthat the program of this triptych might have
been laid out with Roger's Spanishpatronin mind--or even plannedin Spainand dictatedto the
artist.While this cannotbe more than speculative,we can be quite sure that Roger's composition,
once created,had a tremendouseffect on iconography.This was, in the event, far more true in
Flanders, and in the North in general, than in Spain, despite the presenceof both versions of
Roger's originalpaintingthere by I445.
In Flanders,it is obviousthat a model or sketchwas retainedby Roger's studio, to judge from
the frequencyof more or less close variantsof the originaltreatmentwhich were producedduring
the secondhalf of the fifteenthcenturyand later. A quite close copy, by an unidentifiedfollower,
is in the London National Gallery,8"while two examples of a variant type are in American
museums,84differing most obviously in the reorganizationof the picture space into a diagonal,
reducingthe view of the outdoor landscapeand omitting the Resurrection,but also in giving
Christthe crossbannerof the Resurrectionto hold, and placing an open book beside the Virgin,
a detail which seems to appearearliestin the Walters Book of Hours (Fig. 7). In freer versions,
Christ'sAppearancewas used either as a single subject85or as an element of a larger composition8
by a numberof Northern paintersand sculptors(Fig. I )"8 through the end of the century.The
steeply diagonalcompositionused for the sceneby some of Roger's followers is also to be seen in a
sixteenthcenturytriptychwing attributedto the French school.88
It would have been remarkableif Roger's altarpieceshad left no trace whatsoeverin Spain;
its effect was in fact felt among the Spanishpaintersmost influencedby Flemish art during the
latter part of the fifteenthcentury,but the subjectwas never popularin Spain.Aside from a few
minor instancesaroundthe turn of the century,89it occursas one of the forty-odd panels of the
great Retablo de la Reina Catolica,the altarpieceexecuted between 1496 and 1504 by a group
two triptychs, and determine whether or not minor variations no. 43, incorrectly identified as the "Noli me tangere") ; by the
occur elsewhere; but as this is not possible, we are left only Frankfurt Master (Friedlander, op.cit., vii, p.
14x, no. 145) i
with the discrepancies between the two readings, particularly by Jan Provost (ibid., Ix, p. x45, no. 127) ; by "Jan de Cock"
over the word read by Panofsky as "perseveravit" and by (ibid., xiv, p. 124) ; etc.
Wehle & Salinger as "pleveravit." 86. Hans Memling includes this as a scene in his great
83. M. Davies, National Gallery Catalogues, Early Nether- altarpiece of the "Seven Joys of Mary," executed in 1480 for
landish School, London, I945, pp. ix f., no. io86i perhaps Pieter Bultinc of Bruges (Karl Voll, Memling, Stuttgart, 1909,
the right wing of a triptych. PP. 32f. 38).
84. Washington, National Gallery of Art, Mellon Coll. 87. Veit Stoss includes the scene (see Fig. xx) in the Altar
no. 45, ascribed to Roger van der Weyden (M. J. Friedlinder, of the Virgin in the Nonnberg Abbey at Salzburg, executed in
Die altniederlindische Malerei, II, Leiden, 1934, p, i oS, no. 1498 (Heinrich Decker, Der salzburger Fliigelaltar des Veit
41x
attributed by C. de Tolnay, "Flemish Paintings in the Stoss, Salzburg, 1950, pp. 17, 34, fig. 2, and p. 54, fig. 22.
National Gallery of Art," Magazine of Art, xxxiv, 1941, 88. Photo in the Frick Art Reference Library, no. 5o3-28a5
pp. 184-186 and fig. 14, to Vrancke van der Stockt). New whereabouts unknown, but thought to have been on the Florence
York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, by the Master of the St. art market.
Ursula Legend (Wehle and Salinger, op.cit., pp. 76f.). 89. A panel by the Palanquinos Master, in the Torbado
85. Examples from the Ehninger Altarpiece, by the Ulm Coll., Leon (Post, op.cit. Iv, I, pp. 172-174, and VI, 2, 1935,
Master, copying Dirck Bouts (W. Sch5ne, Dieric Bouts und pp. 624-627 and fig. 277); and a panel in the Chapel of the
seine Schule, Berlin, 1938, p. 176, no. 62, pl. 74a) 5 a panel Reyes Viejos at the Cathedral of Toledo, by "Santa Cruz," an
by Albert Bouts (Friedllinder, op.cit., III, p. 11 6, no. 55; artist strongly Flemish in character: this scene flanks the Resur-
Harry G. Sperling, Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition of Flemish rection, with the "Noli me tangere" opposite (ibid., Ix, I,
Primitives, N.Y., F. Kleinberger Galleries, 1929, pp. i34f., 1947, PP. 239-243).
 "ET PRIMA VIDIT" 25

of artistsworkingunder the directionof Juan de Flandes for Isabella of Castile.9"The panel in

questionis attributedto one of the shop assistants,and shows Christspeakingto the Virgin, who
kneels in an open portico--his wordsare indicated,and they are exactlythose recordedby Pseudo-
Bonaventurain his descriptionof the scene."
Derived though these panels are from Roger's general iconographictype, they exhibit in
commona numberof minorvariationswhichsuggest that a local traditionwas in existence.Charac-
teristicsof this type include the presenceof angels as witnessesof the scene,"9and a tendency to
place the episode not indoors,but on a loggia or portico,half indoors and half out, with Christ
sometimesstill out in the open air. This same type of setting is to be seen in the woodcutwhich, as
we noticed earlier, was used to illustrate the Antwerp edition of Ludolf's Vita Christi in 1487,
and in the much earlierWalters Book of Hours (Fig. 7).
A later Spanish example of our iconography,a triptych wing in the Museo Provincial at
Segoviawhichis attributedto Luis de Moralesand datesfrom the middle of the sixteenthcentury,"
returnsto the indoor setting, and raises another point of iconographicdetail which, as we shall
see, had alreadybeen introducedas a varianttype elsewherein Europe some decadesearlier: the
Virgin kneels, Christ blesses, but now she faces him, leaning on her prie-dieu, which separates
them one from the other. The same organization,returnedto the porticosetting, is used by the
Italian BernardinoLoschi in a fresco paintedin the chapel of the Castello dei Pio at Carpi,early
in the same century:Christonce more standsoutside, the Virgin inside the arcadedloggia, while
angels hover overhead." But even here, we are not at the root of our type; instead, we must
turn to one areawe have virtually neglected in our survey of this iconography,Germany.
Aside from the Rhenish area which was artisticallya province of Flanders in the fifteenth
century,we have not noticed any instancesof the occurrenceof our subject in German territory
since the PassionaleKunigundaeearly in the fourteenth century. It did not in fact appear in
productionsof any scale, so far as we can determine,until late in the fifteenth century; but this
is not to say that it was unknown.Quite the contrary;the evidenceof a large numberof German
woodcutsboth published"5and unpublished"shows that this subject must have been a popular
one with the publicin the fifteenth century,for the woodcutwas above all the vehicle of popular
iconographyin that period. Following no rigid iconographictype, these woodcutsdisplay a cer-
tain degree of freedomin the way they representthe scene of Christ'sAppearanceto his mother;
but most of them can be seen to adhere to the characteristictype establishedby the manuscript
traditionwe believe to have served as model for Roger's painting: Christ standing blessing his
mother, while the latter kneels, turningtowardhim from the prie-dieu at which, very often, she
has been kneeling; one feature, found in the works of Roger's followers, is the banner of the
cross which Christ almost invariablybears in his left hand in these German woodcuts.
Another type exists, however, which is distinct from these, and of great interest in that it
demonstratesthe preservationof the old iconographyof the Passionale Kunigundae in this
popular art stream:a woodcutin Munich, dated to the second quarterof the fifteenth century,
shows Christand his mother embracingin the same way as in the miniature,although with more
tendernessand less passion; they stand on the same simple piece of terrain,and are watched by
90. F. Sanchez Canton, "El retablo de la Reina Catolica," page, fol. 27 r of the Missal-Breviary of Ferdinand the
4rchivo espat'ol de arte y arqueologia, VI, 1930, pp. 97-1 33.Catholic, Vatican, Chigi c vII, included in the exhibition
91. ibid., pp. 129-13o, pl. xIx; the panel is now in the Miniatures of the Renaissance,Vatican, 1950, no. xo8, pp.
Kaiser-FriedrichMuseum,Berlin. 63f.; pl. xx.
92. Angels are also present in the version by Albert Bouts 95. For example, cf. W. L. Schreiber,Handbuchder Holz-
cited above, note 85. und Metallschnitte des XV. Jakrhunderts,i, Leipzig, 1926,
93. Photo in the F.A.R.L., no. 803-18a. pp. 223f., nos. 700-704, as well as v, 1928, p. 77, no. 2382.
94. F.A.R.L. Photo, no. 712 C 22 C 27caa Part v. In an- 96. The SchreiberColl. in the Library of Congressand the
other Italian work of the early sixteenth century, Christ faces print departmentof the Metropolitan Museum of Art alone
the kneeling Virgin; the setting is an interior, with an altar have yielded seven unpublishedexamplesof the theme.
in the background:this is a miniature from the Resurrection
26 THE ART BULLETIN

two hovering angels (Fig. I2).97 A similar scene of the embraceof Christ and his mother, but
in an interiorsetting, is found in a woodcutpublishedin Venice in 1521, in which Christ holds
the triumphalbannerin his right hand while bendingto embracethe Virgin;" and in an abbrevi-
ated form, with only the busts of the embracingfigures shown, it occursin a sixteenth century
French "golden" manuscriptin the Libraryat Parma.""
That the use of this subjectwas prevalent in fifteenth century Germanyis at least established
by this enumerationof examples;and, as such,it is more or less inevitablethat it should have been
employed by Germany'smost influentialartist, AlbrechtDiirer: such was in fact the case. Diirer
includedthe episode of Christ'sAppearanceto the Virgin in his Small Passion, executedbetween
I509 and I5I I oohis treatmentis based in a general way on the Flemish traditionestablished
by Roger, but it emphasizesthe triumphalaspectof the scenein Christ'sbearingand appurtenances,
including the banner,while the prayerful attitude of the Virgin is also stressed by having her
still kneelingat her prie-dieu,now placedbetweenthe two figures.Here, obviously,we are dealing
with the iconographictraditionas noted in the sixteenthcenturypaintingsof Morales and Loschi,
in which the kneeling Virgin, insteadof turning to face her Son, kneels already facing him, with
the prie-dieubetween them. The influenceof Diirer's version of the scene was as widespreadas
Roger's, to judge by the cited instancesof its reflection,"'0as well as its employment by two
sculptorsof Troyes, Thomasand JacquesGuyon,who used its compositionin designingthe wooden
jub6 of the churchat Villemaur,dated to 152.102
Diirer does not appear, however, to have originatedthis iconographicvariant, but rather to
have been its popularizer;two Germanworksof the late fifteenth century,a woodcutin Berlin"'o
and a paintingsold at Colognein 1905,"' as well as Hans Wechtlin'swoodcutfor a Life of Christ
publishedat Strasbourgin 1508,'05 all show the same elements of facing participants,prie-dieu,
crossbanner,and in the first two cases even the baldaquin,as in Diirer's woodcut. They almost
certainlyrepresentthe pictorialtraditionwhich Diirer followed in creatinghis own representation
of the Appearance,a representationwhich was influentialbecauseof its inherent beauty rather
than becauseof any great originalityof content.

VI
Another iconographicvariant of our theme of Christ Appearing to the Virgin exists, which,
becauseof its derivation,is somewhatfurther afield than the ones we have studied heretofore.
It is a type which shows little internal consistencybetween the variousexampleswe can adduce;
what they have in commonis not at all a similarityof pictorialcomposition,but rathera parallelism
of approachto the iconography.This iconographictype is based upon the compositionof the
Annunciation,thus emphasizingthe parallelismbetween the heralding of the Incarnationby the
Paris, 1900, p. 142 and fig. 57. Troyenne artistsseem to have
97. Schreiber's no. 700, op.cit., I, p. 223. The woodcut has
adoptedthe subject, for it appearsagain in freer iconographic
in the cornersof its frame the arms of Bavaria, the Palatinate,
Austria, and Bavaria and Austria quartered. variationsin a later work of the school of Juliot, ibid., p. 254
and fig. 83, in the church at Vallant-St.-Georges,as well as
98. L. C., SchreiberColl. It is one of a very full cycle of 155
woodcuts illustrating a book entitled Rosario della gloriosa in a stone relief now in the Louvre (M. Aubert, Encyclopidie
VergineMaria. photographiquede Part: Sculpturedu Moyen Age, Paris, n.d.,
99. Parma,Bib. Pal. MSpal. 169, fol. 86v (D. Fava, Tesori no. 166). Koechlin and Marquet de Vasselot, op.cit., p. 254,
delle biblioteche d'Italia, Emilia e Romagna, Milan, 1932, also cite an engraving from Troyes showing this subject.
p. 2x1, fig. 93). This is not, however, the Hours of Henry II, 103. Schreiber, op.cit., I, p. 224, no. 702.
as stated by Panofsky, op.cit., I, p. 463 n. 263.2 0o4. Litzinger et al. Sale, HeberleGallery, Cologne, i Apr.,
xoo. V. Scherer, Diirer, Stuttgart, 19o8, p. 244 (Bartsch 1905, no. 28, as South German School, x5th century. The
46). writer would be inclined, however, to date this picture in the
ioi. It was of course copied almost directly for other 16th century, after Diirer's print was in circulation; but this
woodcuts, as in the case of an unpublishedGerman woodcut does not affect the validity of the fact that the motif was known
in the SchreiberColl. in the Libraryof Congress. before Diirer.
Ioz. R. Koechlinand J. J. Marquetde Vasselot,La Sculpture 1o5. Passavant,no. 46.
4 Troyes et dans la Champagnemiridionale au seizilme sitcle,
 "ET PRIMA VIDIT" 27

Archangel,and Christ'sown announcement,to his mother, of the fulfillment of that Incarnation,

that is, the Resurrection.?""
We might not suspectthe relationto the Annunciationof a Flemish miniature,dated to about
Io500,in which Christas the Man of Sorrowsapproacheshis kneeling mother, who still has her
backturned to him (Fig. 13)."' The compositionis not at variancein any importantway with
that seen in a number of the works already examined, especially among the German woodcuts
where the Schmerzensmannelement is occasionallypresent; but the Virgin'slack of awarenessof
the event aboutto occuris quite exceptional.The key to the characterof this miniatureis found in
the text which it heads: it is a passagebaseddirectly on St. Luke's narrativeof the Annunciation,
and does not refer to the Appearanceof Christ at all.
Compositionallyquite different,but basedon the same parallelismof themes, is a panel painted
by the Valencianartist FernandoYanez, a pupil of Leonardoda Vinci, who gave to his painting
of Christ'sAppearancethe same compositionhe had used for an Annunciation.108
Just as clearly linked with another iconographyof the Annunciationis an amusing panel in
the VirginiaMuseum of Fine Arts, by the hand of one of the Antwerp Manneristsactive about
who were once lumped togetherunderthe genericname of Herri met de Bles.'09 The whole
1520o
scheme of this painting is that of an Annunciation,with Christ as Triumphatoroccupyingthe
position, and the flying attitude, of Gabriel (Fig. 14). Not only that, but the peculiar arched
stair leading to the Virgin'sbedchamberis obviously copied from Diirer's woodcut of the An-
nunciationitself! 'oEven the attitudeof the Virgin, as in the case of our two previousexamples,
is far more appropriateto the humility associatedwith the Annunciation,than to the surprise
and/or joy that customarilyis expressedin representationsof the Appearanceafter the Resurrection.
A comparable"levitated" attitude of Christ suggests that the Annunciationiconographyhad
something to do with the compositionof an engraving of the Appearanceof Christ done about
1593 by Jerome Wierix, after BernardinoPasseri,"' which in addition places in a neighboring
room the three Marys preparingto leave for the tomb, and outside an open window the tomb
itself with the soldiers standingguard. And Christ also "flies" toward the Virgin in a delightful
paintingby FrancescoAlbani, in the Pitti Palace, a work of the mid-seventeenthcentury (Fig.
I5).112
We have remarkedthat this borrowingof compositionalschemesof one type or another from
picturesof the Annunciationresults from a desire to emphasizethe parallelismbetween the two
episodes; it remains to point out, briefly, why this should have been considereddesirable. It
would appearto be the result of the development during the fifteenth century of a number of
patternedsequencesof the events of the Life of Christand of his mother, which assumeda con-
siderable ritual importance; in particular, we might point out the series of the Seven Joys
and the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin."8 As the desire grew to include the Virgin in all the im-
portant events of Christ's life, the scene of the Appearance after the Resurrection came to be
included among the Seven Joys: we may recall that this was the case both in Memling's Altarpiece
of the Seven Joys of Mary, and in Veit Stoss' sculptured altarpiece on the same theme (Fig. I I)."u

io6. A similar parallelism is expressed by Titian in his o09. So publishedby Leonce Amandry, "The Collection of
AscensionAltar of 1522 in the Churchof SS. Nazaro e Celso, Dr. Carvallo at Paris," Burlington Magazine, vi, 19o5, pp.
Brescia,in which the Annunciationoccupiesthe upper portions 304f. and pl. Iv. The painting was given to the V.M.F.A. by
of the wings (H. Tietze, Tizian, Leben und Werk, Vienna, Mr. RobertLehman.
1936, fig. 55 brought to my attention by Dr. von Witzleben). i 0o. Bartsch 83. This was pointed out to me by Prof.
o107.Huntington Library, Ms xx49 (not foliated); my in- Panofsky.
formation on this manuscript has been furnished by Prof. ix . C. LeBlanc, Manuel de l'amateur d'estampes, IV, Paris,
Panofsky, to whose attention it was brought by Prof. S. C. 1889, p. 223, no. 816.
Chew (cf. Panofsky, Early Netherlandish Painting, I, p. 463 x 2. Photo Alinari, No. i.
n. 2634). I 13. Cf. S. Beissel, Geschichte der Verehrung Marias in
io8. Post, op.cit., xI, pp. 215-217, fig. 76. Yanez executed Deutschland wihrend des Mittelalters, Berlin, o909, passim.
the work between 50o6 and 5 xo.
Ix4.
Cf. above, notes 86, 87.
28 THE ART BULLETIN

Of great importancein this tendency toward codificationof events of the sacredlegends into
harmoniousand balancedsequenceswas the highly popular rosary cult, with its emphasis on
enumerationand counting:it has been noticed by Dr. H. Sallmann"' that the Appearancewas
introducedas the Sixth Joy of the Virgin, instead of the Resurrectionitself, as early as 1422 in
the text of the so-called "FranciscanCrown" of Rosary prayers. At what date this was first
reflectedin art, it is, of course,more difficultto establish.But it was these compilationsof events
which led to the establishmentof parallel episodes, and cycles of episodes, and thus to parallel
iconographiessuch as the one in which the compositionof the Annunciationwas borrowed for
that of the Appearance.Not that authoritydid not already exist for comparingthe two events:
we may recall that Rupert of Deutz describedChrist'sAppearancewith the words, "victoriam
suam annuntiavit";1x and St. Ambrosehimself stressedthe parallelismbetween the Resurrection
from the unused tomb, and the Virgin birth."'
Once we have recognizedthe existenceof this parallel, we may notice in some of our other
examplesof Christ'sAppearanceto the Virgin in art of the fifteenth and sixteenthcenturiesthat,
although the conventionaliconographyis followed, certain attributes,particularlythe bed and
the prie-dieu, are introducedwithout basis in the original texts."' These novel details suggest
most strongly that the artistswho introducedthem had the iconographyof the Annunciationin
the backof their minds; but the direct influenceof the iconographyof the Annunciation,as we
have seen, never establisheda firmhold in artisticpractice,and left no single enduringiconographic
tradition.
VII
By the latter part of the fifteenth century,this tendencyto exalt the role of the Virgin in the
events of the Passion of Christ had led to new and interestingvariationson our theme;"9 and
therehad also developeda whole new seriesof apocryphalepisodesin popularliteratureconcerning
the period after the Resurrection,of which one is of particularinterestin our present connection.
This is the legend that Christpresentedto his motherthe Redeemedof the Old Testament,whom
he had just freed from Limbo, when he appearedto her after the Resurrection.Although this
subjectmay be found portrayedin the art of variousparts of Western Europe, it would seem to
have originatedin Spain,where the only known examplesprior to 1500 were created;'20 and the
literaryevidenceindicatesthat it was in Spain that the legend first was given descriptiveform.'"'
The story appearsto be an outgrowthof the chapteron Christ'sAppearancein Ludolf of Saxony's
Vita Christi; Ludolf, the most popularof the vulgarizers of the Evangelists in Spain, describes
very simply how Christ, spending Easter morning with his mother, tells her of his Harrowing
of Hell, and how he liberatedthe Elect of the Old Dispensationfrom Limbo.'22In the hands of
fifteenthcenturySpanishdivines there emerged a full-blown accountof Christ'sactuallybringing
these individuals,Adam and Eve, Abraham,and the rest, to present to the Virgin when he first
appearedto her.123

xx5. Dr. Sallmann has very generously supplied me with to the Apostles in a German woodcut of the last quarter of
most of the information about this matter embodied in the the x5th century (Schreiber, op.cit., 1, p. 224, no. 701).
present section. 120. Cf. Post, op.cit., vi, 1, 1935, p. 270, notes i and 2a
116. Cf. above, note 43. ibid., vII, 2, 1938, p. 527, note 2 i and King, op.cit., pp.
117. Cf. above, note 39. 296-298.
ixx8. This seemsto be evidentparticularlyearly in the French 12I. Two important articles are in Spanishperiodicals: J.
miniature of ca. 1425, in Walters MS W. 289 (Fig. 7); cf. Gudiol, "La Mare de Deu en la Resurrecciode Crist," Veu
above, note 64. de Catalunya, 1918, no. 429, Pagina artistica; L. de Saralegui,
Ix 9. For example, on a single page of a Parisian Book of op.cit.
Hours of ca. 1480, Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Ms 74, min. 46, 122. Cf. above, note 48.
fol. Ix22r (James, op.cit., p. 197), she is present not only at 123. It may occur in the Vida de Crist of the x4th century
the Pentecost,in the principal miniature,but at the Ascension Catalan, Francisco Eximenis5 in any event, the episode is
and in another marginal miniature of Christ Addressing the related in a sermonon the Resurrectionpreachedon April 23,
Apostles. She is also present as Christ displays his wounds 1413, by St. Vicente Ferrer (J. Sanchis y Sivera, Quaresma
Io. Roger van der Weyden, Christ Appearing to the Virgin
(Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
ii. Veit Stoss, Christ Appearing to the Virgin
Salzburg, Nonnberg Abbey, Church of St. John

i . Christ Appearing to the Virgin

Munich, Bayrische Staats-Bibliothek

14. Antwerp Mannerist, Christ Appearing to the Virgin

Richmond, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
(Gift of Mr. Robert Lehman)

13. Christ Appearing to the Virgin

San Marino, Huntington Lib. MS I1149
 15. Francesco Albani, Christ Appearing to the Virgin
Florence, Pitti Palace (photo: Alinari)

16. "Miguel Esteve," Christ Appearing to the Virgin

Williamstown, Williams College, Lawrence Art Museum
17. Simon Bening, Christ Appearing to the Virgin
Baltimore, Walters MS W. 442
S8. Christ Appearing to the Virgin
N.Y., Morgan Ms M. 7, fol. 20

19. Guido Reni, Christ Appearing to the Virgin

in Limbo. Dresden, Gallery

zo. Christ Appearing to the Virgin (?). Baltimore Museum of Art

 "ET PRIMA VIDIT" 29

Apparentlythe earliestin date of our examplesof this scenein Spanishart is a panel attributed
by Post to the Perea Master,12'in which a minimumof setting is indicated:instead,we are offered
a picture of a dose-pressed throng of the Redeemed pushing forward to be introducedto the
Virgin. She herself stands facing them, her back just that moment turned away from an altar
at which she had been praying; now, with hands upraised,she faces her Son and the Redeemed.
Iconographically,this treatmentwas not influential;much preferredwas the compositionused
in a panel from the great Retablo de la Reina Catolica,a paintingattributedto the hand of Juan
de Flandes himself.125This panel shows the Virgin seated at the foot of her bed, just lifting her
eyes from prayeras her Son enters from out-of-doors,leading the first of a great throng of the
Redeemed in to meet her. This composition,in which the details of the Virgin's bedchamber
are indicatedin more or less detail, becamethe one most generally employed by Spanishartists
in the sixteenthcentury(Fig. 16),126 and spread,as we shall see, to many other parts of Western
Europe as well. In Andalusia,however, one ingeniouspainter (the questionof prioritybetween
the two extant examplesdoes not appearto be soluble) conceivedthe fascinatingidea of adapting
to this subjecta quitedifferentpictorialdesign, the compositionof a paintingwith an only remotely
similarsubject,Perugino'sPresentationat the Temple (perhapsknownto him throughRaphael's
version)."127The setting, of course, becomesthe out-of-doors,an open piazza before the domed
structureof Perugino'sTemple, now lackingany inherentsignificancein the contextof the picture;
while the groupingof the figuresrepresentsa compromisebetweenthe established,asymmetricar-
rangementof the interiorscene,and Perugino'scarefullybalancedcompositionfor the Presentation.
Also out-of-doorsis the setting of one apparentlyuniquepicturedone by an artistof the School
of the Perea Masterat Valenciafairly early in the sixteenthcentury:128in this painting,the subject
of which is derived directly from the writings of Sor Isabel de Villena,129Christ is to be seen
bringingthe Redeemednot to his mother'sbedchamber,but to the Mount of Calvary,where the
two thieves still hang upon their crosses,and where the Virginis accompaniedby Mary Magdalene
and John the Evangelist, who join her in welcomingthe Redeemed.
These seem to have been isolated iconographic"sports,"which left no heritage of influencein
furtherversionsand copies; the same is not true of the scene of Christpresentingthe Redeemed
to his motherin her chamber.In his History of SpanishPainting,'80Post notes one instanceof the
occurrenceof this subject in Northern art, a diptychby Jan Mostaert which had been misidenti-
fied as representingsimply Christin Limbo.'" The two panels of the diptychrepresentadjoining
halves of the same scene, the interior of a room crowded with many figures, of which those
in the foreground are seen at less than full-length. On the left, Christ leans over his pray-

de Sant Vicent Ferrer, Barcelona, I927, p. 308). It was Retable of the Virgin in the Cathedralat Perpignan (F.A.R.L.
popularized later in the century by the immenselyinfluential Photo 803i); and the relief by Bartolome Ordonez for the
Vita Christi of the Valencian nun Isabel de Villena, which choir-stalls of the Barcelona Cathedral, published by H. E.
was published in 1497 (ed. R. Miquel y Planas, Vol. III, Wethey in ART BULLETIN, XXV, p. 236 and fig. 13.
Barcelona, 1916, pp. x64-179). Isabel used the inhabitants of 127. A panel by Juan de Zamora in the Parcent Coll.,
Limbo as a sort of court for the Virgin, bringing them in on Madrid (Post, op.cit., x, 1950, p. 122, fig. 4o), and a panel
such other occasionsas the Annunciation(cf. King, loc.cit.). from a retable in the Provincial Museum at Seville (ibid.,
124. Post, op.cit., VI, I, pp. 269-272, fig. 10o4. x, pp. 279-283 and fig. 1o6). Although Zamora's panel is
125. Sanchez Canton, op.cit., pp. 129-13o and pl. xx. far superior artistically,Post is by no means certain that it is
I26. For example, in two paintings by the CabanyesMas- earlier; it need not be, for it may representan improvement
ter, Post, op.cit., VI, 2, p. 397 (illus. in Archivo espafiol de by a capable painter upon the experimentalnovelty of a less
arte y arqueologia, IX, 1933, pl. xIII and pp. talented colleague, driven to such experimentsas a means of
94-98); pp.
412-414, fig. 174 (cf. Post, op.cit., XI, 1953, p. 326, note attracting attention his artistic talents did not gain him. The
2); a panel of a retable attributedto "Miguel Esteve" (Fig. strongest probability is that both are derived from the well-
16), now in the Lawrence Art Museum at Williams College, known "commonarchetype."
Williamstown, Mass. (ibid., xI, p. 326, fig. 133); a panel 128. In the Provincial Museum at Valencia (Post, op.cit.
attributedto the school of the Artes Master, in the Alcubierre VI, 2, pp. 448-450, fig. 190).
Coll., Madrid (ibid., xI, pp. 172-174, fig. 64); a panel by 129. Vita Christi, Sections CCI-cCVI (cf. above, note 123).
the St. Lazarus Master, in a Spanishprivate coll. (ibid., vI, 130. Op.cit., VI, I, p. 270 n. 2.
2, p. 392, fig. 164); one of nine panels by Rodrigo de Osona 131. Divided between the von Kuhlmann Coll., Berlin
the Younger, in the Provincial Museumat Valencia (F.A.R.L. (left panel), and the Thyssen Coll., SchlossRohoncz, Lugano:
Photo 803a, part 2, detail 4); a Catalan painting in the Friedlinder, op.cit., x, p. 12o, no. 4, and pl. v.
30 THE ART BULLETIN

ing mother, introducingthe leading members of the group of Redeemed, Adam and Eve;
behind them, and in the other panel, the rest of the throng press forward from the back-
ground, while angels flutter overhead,and a donor kneels "downstage"right, her hands clasped
on her prie-dieu.There may be many such examples,hidden away in cataloguesunder tides such
as "Christ in Limbo";'82 but a sufficientnumber of authentic scenes of Christ presenting the
Redeemed have already come to light in North Europeanart of the sixteenth century to show
that the subjectwas widely used even outside the sphere of direct Spanishinfluence.In Holland,
in additionto the Mostaert diptychjust described,we may point to another diptych of the first
quarterof the sixteenthcentury,a compositionmore closely resemblingthe outdoor-indoorsetting
of the Spanishartists;13" while in Flanders it was also used, although without any sense of an
establishediconography.In a miniatureby SimonBening, executedabout 1520, one of a very full
"Life of Christ"cycle probablyintended for its presentmountingin the form of a quadriptych,
half-length figures of Christ and the Virgin, in poses derived from the Rogerian traditionex-
aminedabove,are in the foregroundof a large room, while behind them may be dimly perceived
the heads of the great tremblingthrong of the Redeemed,more ghostly than corporealin appear-
ance (Fig. 17)."' Nor is the subject unknown in the art of France (Fig. 18)'"" or Germany.'""
In Italy, on the other hand, we have found few examplesof our theme in any of its phases,so
that it is not surprisingto find only rare instancesof this type, such as a paintingby Girolamoda
Santacroce.3"' Far more importantis its occurrencein the work of Titian, a canvasat S. Maria in
Medole, executed about 1554,1"8 painted as a personal favor in connection with the transfer of
the canonryof the churchfrom the artist'sson to his nephew.This paintingis uniquein that there
is no setting such as is to be found in the previousexamples adduced; instead of being situated
in the domestic interior which the narrative describes,the Virgin confronts her Son and the
Redeemedin Heaven itself, on a bankof cloud, with the choir of angels looking on.
Titian'spaintingmarksthe end of the depictionof our theme as a narrativeepisode of Christ's
ministry on earth; but it also serves to introduceanother, and terminal, phase of the theme's
development,in the new religiousclimate of the Counter-Reformation.

VIII
The last phase of the history of the iconographyof Christ'sAppearanceto his mother, now
wholly removed from any earthly setting, is representedby a group of Italian paintings,the
earliestof whichseems to be the work of AllesandroAllori in S. Marco at Florence, which might
be taken for a typical Descent into Limbo but for the presenceof a kneeling woman whom W.
Friedlaender perceived to be none other than the Virgin Mary.'89 This work dates from about
1580; by the end of the century the same composition,with the Virgin more clearly indicated,
132. For example, the painting by the Master of Alkmaar 135. It occurs in a x6th century Book of Hours for the
formerly in the Hoschek Coll., Prague: ibid., x, p. 125, no. 5', usage of Rouen in the Morgan Library, MS M.7, fol. 20. I
could be an unrecognizeddepictionof this episode. am indebtedto Miss Meta Harrsenfor bringing this miniature
133. In the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (Catalogue, 1x92o, to my attention.
pp. 9-10, nos. 45-46), attributed by Friedlinder, op.cit., x, 136. Cf. a pen and water color drawing in the Diirer
p. I25, no. 54, to the Master of Alkmaar, but given to a tradition in the Kupferstichkabinett,Berlin (F. Winkler, Die
Follower of Cornelis Buys by G. J. Hoogewerff, De Noord- Zeichnungen 4lbrecht Darers, III, Berlin, 1938, pl. xvII; E.
Nederlandsche Schilderkunst, II, The Hague, 1937, PP. 384f., Panofsky, Albrecht Diirer, II, Princeton, 1948, p. 72, no. 623.
figs. I86-i87; the latter attribution is the one followed by 137. Pub. by G. Bernardiniwith other pictures from the
the RM. Lazzaroni Coll., in Rassegna d'arte, xI,
1911xx,p. 104.
134. Walters Art Gallery, W. 442. For bibliography, cf. 138. H. Tietze, op.cit., fig. 222 and p. 301. I owe this
Illuminated Books of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, important citation to Dr. Sallmann.
Baltimore, 1949, pp. 77f., no. 212. The scene also appears 139. W. Friedlaender,"Contributoalla cronologia e all'-
on a tapestry in the Fogg Museum of Art, Cambridge,no. iconografia di Lodovico Carracci," Cronache d'arte, III, 1926,
1941.129, cited by Panofsky, op.cit., I, p. 463 n. 263'. p. 138, fig. 5 and pp. x38f.
 "ET PRIMA VIDIT" 31

had been used by Lodovico Carracci" and by Guido Reni (Fig. 19),"' and its occurrencemay
be tracedwell along in the seventeenthcentury."2
This strangeadaptationof the sceneof the Descent into Limbo quite obviouslystems from the
subject we have just discussed,Christ'sPresenting the Redeemed to the Virgin; and, since the
participationof the Virginin this sequenceof events is moved up to an earlierpoint, it would seem
to obviate that variant of the Appearancescene, as well as the Appearanceitself. The occasion
for this new transformationof our subject, or rather fusion of two iconographicthemes, was
determinedby Panofsky as the consequenceof the so-called Bulla Sabbatinaof 1577, a spurious
work which went so far as to assertthat on the Saturdayafter the Crucifixion,the Virgin herself
descendedinto Limbo and was responsiblefor freeing Christ from the bonds of death!'"' Such
a thesis was of course totally unacceptableon theological grounds; but it was so popular that
almost immediatelya series of authenticPapal Bulls were issued which allowed the interpretation
that the Virginwas presentat the Harrowingof Hell as intercessorwith Christfor the Redeemed.
In this way officialRomandoctrine,by establishinga new type of Resurrectionscene outsidethe
traditionalnarrativecontextswe have studied, tended to eliminatethe usefulnessof the subject of
Christ'sAppearanceto the Virgin. In addition,numerousnonnarrativevariantsof the Appearance
scenewere alreadyfamiliar;althoughin contentthey were often far removed from the traditional
"Appearance,"they frequently derived their formal compositionfrom the iconographicschemes
developed for that subject-and, in terms of their final significance,they may be said to stand for
an extensionof the same intent as that which originallygave rise to, and determinedthe develop-
ment of, the iconographicinnovationswe have been studying."' By and large, these variantsare
strongly personalones; they serve to emphasizethe essentiallypersonalnature of the content of
the Appearancesceneitself. And with the individualexperienceso emphasized,it becomespossible
for personsotherthan the VirginMary reasonablyto be recipientsof visions of the Risen Christ."5
Sometimes,in works of the sixteenth or seventeenth century, it becomes all but impossible to
determineobjectivelywhether it is the Virgin Mary, or some reverentliving individualto whom
Christis manifestinghimself: this is the case in two drawingsafter Diirer," as it is with a seven-
teenth century Spanishcarving in Baltimore (Fig. 20o)."

14o. A painting in the church of the Corpus Domini, of Sorrows" image in the x6th century becomes instead one
Bologna (H. Bodmer, Lodovico Carracci, Burg, 1939, p. 130o, of her Seven Sorrows (ibid., pp. 2zo and 225; fig. 11).
no. 47, and pl. 54). A sketch for this work is published by Similarly, the Virgin's presencemay give added poignancy
Friedlaenderas fig. 6 in his discussionof the Corpus Domini to the Schmerzensmannimage in its more traditional form,
as in the iconographic type isolated by
painting, op.cit., pp. 137-141. Hoogewerff in i 5th
141. Dresden Catalogue, I, Berlin, 1929, pp. 153f., no. and x6th century Dutch painting (op.cit., II, pp. 179-186).
322. A Carraccesquecopy of this work is in the Fitzwilliam We should prefer to distinguish between Hoogewerff's ex-
Museum, Cambridge (F. R. Earp, A Descriptive Catalogue amples, figs. 8x and 83, and his third citation, p. i85, fig. 83,
. . . , Cambridge, 1902, pp. 38f., no. nII.x63, illus. facing which would appear to derive from the Pieti image rather
p. 38. Cf. Bodmer, op.cit., p. 142). than from that of the Man of Sorrows.
142. Cf. a painting by the NeapolitanAndreaVaccaro,also 145. As early as 1470, in the manuscript of the Dialogue
in Dresden (Catalogue, I, p. 205, no. 464). de Jesus-Christet de la Duchesse,a transcriptionof a conver-
143. E. Panofsky, "Imago Pietatis,"Festschriftffr Max J. sation betweenthe Savior and Mary of Burgundy, the frontis-
Friedlinder, Leipzig, 1927, p. 306, note 107. piece illustratestheir meeting in a miniatureobviously derived
144. One such type is the "Virgin of the Sword of Sor- from the traditional Flemish iconography of Christ'sAppear-
rows," a sort of "Schmerzensmutter" transfixedby palpable ance to the Virgin, with the DuchessMary occupyingthe place
wounds when beholding her Son on the Cross or as the Man of the latter: London, British Museum, Ms Add. 7970, fol. Iv,
of Sorrows (cf. W. F. Gerdts, Jr., "The Sword of Sorrow," illus. in O. Piicht, The Master of Mary of Burgundy,London,
Art Quarterly, xvII, 1954, pp. 213-229). The "Virgin of the 1948, pl. I.
Sword of Sorrows" dates back to the Gothic period, but the 146. Panofsky, Diirer, II, p. 72, no. 624 (Louvre, Paris)
appearanceof a new variant in the x5th century (ibid., pp. and 625 (Offentliche Kunstsammlung,Basel, a copy of the
22of. and fig. 6) seems to depend upon the iconography of Louvre drawing); the former is cited by Winkler, op.cit.
both the "Noli me tangere"and the appearanceto the Virgin. I, no. 44, who considersthe feminine participanta nun, and
It is not, however, a narrative scene at all; furthermore, definitelynot the Virgin Mary.
whereasthe Appearanceis triumphantand joyful, and becomes 147. Acc. no. 35,35.x.
by substitutionone of the Seven Joys of Mary, the "Sword
32 THE ART BULLETIN

Just as our principalsubject,the narrativeepisodeof Christ'sAppearanceto his mother, makes

its own appearancecontemporaneouslywith an increasingemphasison the part played by the
individualmemberin the churchcommunityin the later Middle Ages--an aspectof the reaction
againstscholasticism--sothis stage of diversificationrepresentsan ultimate phase of the develop-
ment of this aspect of Christianworship, at least within the frameworkof the Roman Catholic
church.Depicting as it does an intimate,personalmoment in the relationshipbetween Christ and
his mother,the scenelacksthe dogmaticimportanceof the canonicalepisodesof the Passioncycle;
but, in symbolizingthe direct personalcontactpossiblebetween the individualand the Godhead,
it had great meaningin a period when the larger ceremoniesof churchritual were losing their
hold on the imaginationof the laity, in favor of individual devotions and meditative exercises.
It is indicativeof this that apparentlythe firstinstanceof the use of our subjectin later mediaeval
art was in a personalbook of devotions, the PassionaleKunigundae;it continuedto occur most
frequentlyin just such contexts,and to be most popularin those countriesand periodswhere such
individual devotions were most widely practiced.It appears, moreover, in that most widely
circulatedart form of the time, the woodcuts of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, which
served a populaceunableto affordoriginalworks of art for their privatedevotions.On the other
hand, its appearancein monumentalart or church altarpiecesremainedrelatively rare. It was,
in its very essence,a "popular"subjectin the truestsense of the word.
It is interestingto note that when the Roman Catholicchurch,opposingwhat was perhapsonly
the logical end productof this individualizationof Christianworship,the Protestantsects, began
to codify the forms of these personaldevotionsin order to integratethem once more within the
frameworkof its ritual, it sometimesincluded this episode among those enumeratedfor the con-
templationof the faithful. This is especiallyclear in the case of the rosarycult, the most obvious
example of the ritualizationof personaldevotions, which soon found room for the inclusionof
this scene.
After the Councilof Trent, the tendencyto reemphasizethe value of collectiveworshipspelled
the end for our subject, with its variants and offshoots,in favor of a more or less impersonal
messageaboutthe Redemption.The Appearanceof Christwith the Redeemed, although derived
from the writings of the Spanishmystics, has a far less personal content than the emotionally-
chargedscene describedby the Pseudo-Bonaventura;and the scene of Christ and the Virgin in
Limbo depicted by the Bolognese eclectics,for all its dash and drama, is quite impersonalby
comparisonwith the work of Roger or even of Diirer.
The removal of the episode from the realm of human experiencemay almost be symbolized
by the change in its setting: from earth, where it first was reported to have occurred,it was
removedto Heaven, and thence at last to Hell-or at least Purgatory.This very impersonaliza-
tion soon brought an end to the useful life of the theme; in the rapid constriction in the number
of narrative subjects employed in religious art, which began in the seventeenth century, this
episode was crowdedout and, since its intense personalsignificancewas now lost, it disappeared
from general use.

THE BALTIMOREMUSEUMOF ART