Talk - The Virgin Mary in Art

If you were asked to picture the Virgin Mary the image most likely to come to mind is that of a pale-faced, fair haired young woman, wearing a blue gown, headscarf and a beatific smile. It is the iconic image that has been mass reproduced in multiple forms from paintings to paper-weights. As a brand logo, it is a very successful one. But, asks Robert Thompson this afternoon in his talk ‘The Virgin Mary in Art”, why is this the case? “There is no reason that the Virgin Mary should have come to be associated with this image”, he tells me. “There is nothing about it in the Bible. If we are to talk about what she should look like, then it would be more accurate to imagine her as a thirteen-year-old Jewess; but that seems to get forgotten.”

Medieval historian Thompson’s talk will chart the breadth of visual representations of Mary from the first pictures in the Catacombs of Rome through to current visual stories that circulate about her. He will ask where these descriptions have come from and examine the ways that they have changed over time. “A lot of the ideas about Mary have their roots in pagan concepts and imagery”, Thompson tells me, “Although this often makes Roman Catholics feel uncomfortable. There are lots of images from the 5th Century BC that look just like the Virgin Mary.” He will go on to consider the impact of theological changes in the Church “I am interested in the way that images of Mary altered as her theological role developed and became more central”, he tells me. “I have found a lot of evidence to show how and when these changes happened." ER