From Centre to Periphery. The Propagation of the Virgo virga motif and the Case of the 12th Century Høylandet Tapestry
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DOI:
https://doi.org/10.13138/2039-2362/767Abstract
The Høylandet Tapestry is a medieval wall hanging from central Norway that depicts scenes from the infancy of Christ and the arrival of the Magi. We do not know exactly when it was made. Scholars have attempted to date it on stylistic and technical grounds. In this article I will try to do the same on an iconographical basis. Concentrating on the flower that the Virgin holds in her hand, I will trace the origin of the Virgo virga theme in central European art of the early 12th century and examine how this motif can have found its way from there to the outskirts of Norway. In addition, I will discuss the symbolic meaning of Mary holding a flower or a twig, which, in my view, refers to the Jesse root theme from Isaiah and the word play on virgo (Virgin) and virga (twig, branch), and alludes to Jesus’ ancestry as a member of the House of David.
Høylandsteppet è un tessuto ricamato medievale, proveniente dalla Norvegia centrale, i cui decori rappresentano scene della Natività di Cristo e l'arrivo dei Magi. Non si conosce con esattezza la sua data di origine. Gli studiosi hanno tentato di datarlo basandosi sia sulla tecnica di tessitura che sull'analisi dello stile delle figure. In quest'articolo cercherò di fare lo stesso attraverso un'analisi dettagliata dell'iconografia. Partendo dal fiore che la Vergine tiene in mano, vorrei tracciare le origini del soggetto Virgo virga nell'arte dell'Europa centrale della prima metà del XII secolo e indagare sulla diffusione dello stesso fino ad approdare in un posto alquanto periferico della Norvegia centrale. Inoltre analizzerò il significato simbolico di questo soggetto che, alludendo al tema della radice di Iesse e al gioco di parole tra virgo (vergine) e virga (ramo, verga), fa riferimento alla discendenza di Gesù dalla tribù di Davide, re d'Israele.
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