The Eve/Mary parallelism/antithesis in the light of Christian theological tradition and its reflection in the iconography of the Annunciation (15th century)
12.12.2024 2025-02-13 11:24The Eve/Mary parallelism/antithesis in the light of Christian theological tradition and its reflection in the iconography of the Annunciation (15th century)
The Eve/Mary parallelism/antithesis in the light of Christian theological tradition and its reflection in the iconography of the Annunciation (15th century)
José María Salvador-González
doctor in Art History, Doctor in Religious Sciences, Professor at the Complutense University of Madrid (Madrid, Spain).
jmsalvad@ucm.es | ORCID: 0000-0001-6854-8652
Number DOI: http://doi.org/10.33209/2519-4348-2707-9627-2021-9-95
VB. – № 9, 2021. – P. 57-91
Summary
This article‘s relevance derives from having documented the generic thesis of the parallelism between Eve and the Virgin Mary. For reaching these result, we have drawn on the solid doctrinal tradition established by countless exegetical texts of Greek and Latin Church Fathers and medieval theologians, as well as numerous liturgical hymns of the Middle Ages. The current article aims to undertake three mains goals: first to find out and explain some exegetical comments from Church Father and medieval theologians on the parallelism/antithesis between Eve and Mary, and, as a consequence, between Adam and Christ; second to analyze iconographically some paintings of the Annunciation of the 15th century that include in the scene the figures of Adam and Eve; third to prove the possible relation between these doctrinal texts and those pictorial images. For achieving these goals, we will use two complementary methodological strategies: above all, the in-depth analysis of the patristic and theological comments, as well as some medieval liturgical hymns, to emphasize their eventual mutual concordances or discrepancies; in the second term, the iconographic analysis of several paintings of the Annunciation with Adam and Eve based on the millenarian patristic and theological tradition on this matter. As a credible conclusión, we can confirm that these pictorial images of the Annunciation with our first parents reflect the established doctrinal tradition on the parallelisms/antitheses between Eve and Mary, between Adam and Christ, as well as between sin-death and redemption-life. Finally, the current partial approach to the issue under study is just a first step for extensive and in-depth research that one can, and must, undertake over this complex subject, whose relevance is essential both for Mariology and Christology.
Key words: Original Sin, Redemption, Annunciation, Eve, Virgin Mary, Christ’s incarnation.
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