82 CHRISTMAS THROUGH THE EYES OF PAINTERS This is the vision that Master Francke transposes rather exactly; he goes so far as to place on the Blessed Virgin’s lips some of the words of adoration the saint has her pronounce: Dominus meus et Deus meus, “My Lord andmyGod.” TheNativity has become a face-to-face encounter between theMother and the Son, which the painter exalts by adding his personal touch: Three angels spread Mary’s large mantle around her, like an improvised shrine that will shelter the God-Infant. Other images from the same period show her mantle as a refuge for sinners in search of forgiveness. The painting by Master Francke is indicative of the immense love that the Middle Ages lavished on Mary: “The angels revere her, the nations awaited her, the patriarchs and prophets announced her, she was chosen among all and preferred to all,” Saint Bernard wrote; for Dante, she was “the Rose in which the Divine Word was made flesh”; for the faithful, she is Our Lady, and liturgical hymns sing of her mercy and beauty. In her honor a multitude of cathedrals rose up; sculptors depicted her motherhood and her coronation in heaven. The painters were not to be outdone: Seeking to celebrate inseparably her physical beauty and her spiritual beauty, they gave her the face of a Madonna, inspired by the most graceful of the “human models” surrounding them. Here, the wavy hair of a young woman who has just untied her tresses frames the sweet face of Mary. And her beauty is enhanced by the rays that formher halo; the resplendent “glory” that surrounds the Child is communicated to his Mother. Around Mary, the red of the angelic wings matches the red of the Father’s garment and the red of the sky with its constellations of stars: The color of blood and of love invades the scene, forming a splendid and symbolic backdrop for the cascade of divine light that is concentrated on the Infant and gives the picture its meaning. Jesus is “light fromlight,” according to the formulation of the Council of Nicaeawhich the painter has expressed visually here. Christ is the light that scatters the darkness and gives life to the world. This theme of light is very eloquent for the people of the 15th century, who were subjected much more than we are to the rhythm of day and night; for them, light was synonymous with life. Many, many Nativities will take up this theme insistently. ❖ Saint Bernard, Letter 174 to the canons of Lyons. Dante, The Divine Comedy: Paradiso, XXIII, 73, 102.
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