![]() However, the angel in this book of hours could also simply be a fanciful decorative figure, for in a similar French manuscript (ms. A further suggestion is that she was blackened by smoke from pilgrims’ candles. Another theory proposes that the Virgin Mary was associated by some Doctors of the Church, such as Bernard of Clairvaux 1090 –1153, with the dark bride mentioned in the Old Testament Song of Songs. There are various ‘theories’ concerning their dark colour, the most popular of which claims that Black Madonnas were not made by human hands but were found, the dark colour being caused by the earth in which they had lain. Medieval Black Madonnas have no connection with Africa. The illuminator probably used a pigment with a metallic sheen to give the figure an otherwordly appearance.Īlthough angels appear frequently in medieval, Renaissance and baroque art, very few of them are black. The figure was not originally silver, as is often the case, for silver would have oxidised through the page and that is has not happened here. ![]() Various experts, including Kathryn Rudy, believe that the angel on this page, however, was deliberately painted a different colour. It is not the only dark figure in this manuscript, for there is a further dark-skinned angel, also with blond hair, in the margin by another miniature, although the pigment used to paint the face of the latter has probably darkened over time, for the colour is unevenly distributed. Anonymous Black angel1490 –1500 Vellum, 123 The Hague, Koninklijke Bibliotheek / Royal LibraryĪlongside the miniature of the Virgin and Child on this page from a book of hours, from circa 1490 –1500, there is an extremely dark-skinned angel with blonde hair playing a lute in the margin decoration.
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