Vested Angels
Eucharistic Allusions in Early Netherlandish Paintings
By (author) M.B. McNamee
McNamee’s detailed and well illustrated new study is about eucharistic symbolism in Early Netherlandish painting. It focuses on the pervading presence of the vested angel in this school of painting and its eucharistic significance. These angels, dressed in every possible variation of the vestments of the subministers of the traditional Solemn High Mass, are represented as serving the Christ in each episode of His life. As celebrant of the Eternal Liturgy, Christ is shown wearing “the chasuble of his flesh”. The author traces the source of the symbol of the vested angel to the motif of the Eternal Liturgy (or Mass) in the Byzantine tradition. Here Christ is represented at an altar wearing the phelonion or eastern equivalent of a chasuble, and being assisted by angels dressed in orarions, the eastern equivalent of the dalmatic, the vestment of deacons and subdeacons at the traditional Solemn High Mass in the West. Another more immediate source is the long tradition of the Latin liturgical dramas, in which the directives frequently prescribe that the angels in the plays be dressed in some variation of vestments of the traditional Solemn High Mass in the West. The history of the vested angel is traced through numerous paintings representing scenes from the life of Christ: from the Annunciation through the Last Judgement. The theological basis of this study is offered in a discussion of Maurice de la Taille’s Mysterium Fidei, a theory of Mass that best parallels the concept of Eucharistic symbolism in Early Netherlandish painting. The author provides clarifying new insights into the paintings he analyses, such as The Adoration of the Lamb, by Jan van Eyck and the Beaune Last Judgement by Rogier van der Weyden. Colour illustrations and over a hundred photographs of the original paintings help the reader to follow this fascinating analysis.
- By (author) M.B. McNamee
Other Titles in this Series
The Presanctified Liturgy in the Byzantine Rite
A Comparative Analysis of its Origins, Evolution, and Structural Components
Volume 21
Doing Ritual Criticism in a Network Society
Online and Offline Explorations into Pilgrimage and Sacred Place
Volume 29
Rituals in Abundance
Critical Reflections on the Place, Form and Identity of Christian Ritual in our Culture
Volume 17
Friedlicher Kreuzzug und fromme Pilger
Liturgiehistorische Studien zur Heilig-Land-Wallfahrt im Spiegel deutschsprachiger Pilgerberichte des späten 19. Jahrhunderts
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Worship in the Network Culture
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The Embodied Space of Worship
Liturgical Signs and Liturgical Bodies in Contemporary Finnish Orthodox Lay Worship
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Patterns and Persons
A Historiography of Liturgical Studies in the Netherlands in the Twentieth Century
Volume 25
The Sound of Worship
Liturgical Performance by Surinamese Lutherans and Ghanaian Methodists in Amsterdam
Volume 26
Bonding in Worship
A Ritual Lens on Social Capital in African Independent Churches in South Africa
Volume 30
From Fast to Feast
A Ritual-Liturgical Exploration of Reconciliation in South African Cultural Contexts
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