Iconografia mariana e culto popolare nel codice Siriaco 341 di Parigi

Because of the presence of a medallion or a mandorla, modern scholars often connect the iconography of the Virgin and Child surrounded by an aureole with the imperial cult. Effectively, the Emperor held in triumph on a shield was probably at the origin of the iconography which was popularized through the consular diptychs that took over and developed the imperial prototype. Nevertheless, the connection between shield and mandorla can only partially explain the fortune of the Christian iconography of the Virgin with Child in an ellipsoidal medallion. As Cyril Mango noted, this iconography cannot be considered just an interpretation of the triumphal models and the Virgin is not a simple translation of the pagan Victory. In fact the presence of the aureole around the Child defines his non-human status. It is a way to distinguish the body of Mary from the Logos that took a form in her womb. The significance of this composition can be further illuminated by a careful reconsideration of an important pre iconoclastic representation. A Syriac Bible in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris (Syr. 341) shows the Virgin with the Child in a mandorla as a part of a rich decorative programme, with a dogmatic meaning closely connected with the contemporary hymnography. The fragmentary Bible datable through a stylistic analysis to the end of sixth-beginning of the seventh century contains four big miniatures and a sequence of small compositions with the portraits of the standing Prophets and the Apostle James. It cannot be excluded that the depiction of the Virgin and Child in the Syriac Bible (f. 118r) represents the most ancient example of the iconography of the pregnant Virgin. In fact, this image reflects the tradition of hymnography and the popular cult testified by a group of wedding presents of Hellenistic origin, that could be considered to provide a precedent and possibly constitute the ancestry of such iconography, which was then adapted to the monastic context. These representations attest the tradition which flourished outside the official art sponsored by the Church, as testify by some late Egyptian frescoes.