Woman of The Apocalypse
The New Testament's Book of Revelation (12:1, 2 & 5) describes the Woman of the Apocalypse: And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. And she being with child cried, travailing in birth .... And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron:and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne In Catholic tradition she has been identified with the Blessed Virgin Mary, especially in connection with the Immaculate Conception. Mary is often pictured with a crown or halo of stars.
The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception was somewhat controversial in the medieval church, and the liturgical Office for the feast was only established in 1615. In 1649, Francisco Pacheco (father-in-law of Velázquez) published his Art of Painting firmly establishing the detailed correct iconography for paintings of the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception, which included the circle of stars (he also advised the Inquisition in Seville on artistic matters). This was followed by Murillo and his school in very many paintings, and influenced non-Spanish depictions.
Read more about this topic: Circle Of Stars
Famous quotes containing the words woman and/or apocalypse:
“Every woman is like a time zone. She is a nocturnal fragment of your journey. She brings you unflaggingly closer to the next night.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)
“That even an apocalypse can be made to seem part of the ordinary horizon of expectation constitutes an unparalleled violence that is being done to our sense of reality, to our humanity.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)