Author:
SUN Hanlu, Lecturer, School of Arts, Peking University.
Abstract:
The Virgin Mary is a pivotal figure in Christian iconography. This paper highlights the image of "divine illumination" in the Scholastic and neoPlatonic traditions using Fra Angelico's altarpiece for insight, emphasizing the role of space, music, and material in mystical painting. The analysis demonstrates the metaphysical mechanism of light that is implicit in Fra Angelico's altarpieces and in the Gothic cathedral of Saint Denis, as well as in the polyphonic hymns of Guillaume Dufay. The article reveals a common path that leads to the mind through art in the geographical, cultural and political framework of Flanders-Tuscany, and completes the construction of the image system from the late Middle Ages to the Italian Renaissance.
Keywords:
Fra Angelico, Light, Madonna Altarpiece, Polyphonic Music, Incarnation
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