Last week I was at the National Gallery in London. Being the medievalist I think I am I couldn't pass up the opportunity to look at rooms full of medieval art. It is interesting how early representations of The Virgin Mary almost always showed her reading. Engrossed deeply in her book almost unaware of the Angel Gabriel about to tell her she is to conceive a child. Even more nurturing examples of her with baby Jesus almost always depict her with a book in hand.
The paintings reflect the artists own social climate but also the way they imagine this piece of history. I am a bit tired of the whole medieval women were oppressed and all they did was wait in their helplessness for the renaissance. The evidence is out there.
These paintings have an implication it has on our theology and also on the way we constructed gender. Women and their education must have been an issue women reading books must have been an ideal. I am no theologian but those images convey a certain truth about my faith.
Searching through the internet I found this article which explains the symbolism of the paintings better than I would.
http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/meditations/olbook.htmlCase in point. This paintings is from The Mérode Altarpiece by Robert Campin It was created between 1425 and 1428.
