Madonna and Child on a Curved Throne
This panel is probably the oldest painting in the National Gallery in Washington; it is called the "Mellon Madonna" after its donor. The painting is the type of Madonna known as the Virgin Hodegetria (She who points the way), of which there are almost countless versions in Byzantine art. The original prototype was a miracle-working icon of the Virgin in Constantinople, and its prototype in turn traced its heritage to a portrait of the Virgin supposedly painted from life by St. Luke. Thus it was considered to be a true image, to be copied as precisely as possible, and, as such, it conferred apostolic sanction on the making of holy images.
While the type allowed for certain variations, it was generally a half- or full-length depiction of the Madonna with the Child on her left arm, pointing to him with her right, as if to indicate the way to salvation. In these images, the Child looks like a miniature adult in the pose of a philosopher, holding a book or scroll (he is the Word). He raises his right hand in blessing or possibly proclamation. Usually the Virgin is dressed in dark reds and blues picked out with gold. Her Son wears brighter colors, and, since gold represents the uncreated light breaking through, with considerably more gilding.
By the tenth century, the conventional representation of the Virgin's face had crystallized: long oval face, large almond eyes, thin arching nose, small mouth, and dark shading along the right cheek and upper eye sockets. To her right and left often appeared sceptered angels in roundels.
Changes & Additions
These were the essential elements, and custom dictated that if changes were to be made, there should be a good reason, and they should probably be made under the direction of a clerical advisor. The Mellon Madonna departs from the norm in quite a number of ways. We know very little about the origins and early history of the panel; even its earliest known provenance turns out to be the fabrication of an unscrupulous art marketeer. Art history, however, can be an amusing game of educated speculation: by looking at the variations from the norm, it might be possible to puzzle out the panel's point of origin and original purpose.
The most obvious aberration is the large architectural throne that fills the field of the panel and raises the Virgin and Child to royal stature. The throne is reminiscent of ancient architecture, the Colosseum perhaps, or more likely the gilded and pillared Throne of Solomon described in the First Book of Kings. If so, it seems to represent Mary as the Seat of Wisdom, a motif more common in Western Europe than in the Byzantine East. The throne enfolds Mary in a circular space, and makes a circular frame enclosing the Child Jesus. The circle was regarded as the purest and most perfect of the geometric forms, a representation of the divine action. The circle of the throne is echoed in the haloes and the angelic roundels, setting up a rhythm that, as one scholar points out, "evokes a gentle hypnotic response in the more sensitive worshipper and leads him slowly into a trancelike meditation."
The throne, though, might also have referred to that of the Emperor of Byzantium. After all, the Emperor regarded himself as the earthly representative of the heavenly King. The angels, who hold the orb and scepter of heavenly power, are robed in the loros, the formal ceremonial garment of the imperial court. It has been pointed out that the manner of attachment of the border of pearls with loops of gold thread is so precisely rendered that the artist must have known it at first hand. These vestments were put on public display once a year in thirteenth-century Byzantium, so we may assume an artist of Constantinopolitan origins.
The Virgin's clothing, too, speaks of imperial opulence. She does not wear the discreet maroon and dark blue of the standard image, but instead is dressed in brilliant primary colors, red and bright blue, heavily overlaid with yellow gold. The chrysography, or painting in gold, is arranged in starlike rays, to indicate the divine light that shines on us through Mary. Jesus' clothes, too, are unusually bright secondary colors, orange and green, colors made by mixing his mother's blue and red with the yellow gold of his divinity.
Mary's interaction with her divine Child is also a variant on the usual type. Instead of looking outward into our space, she inclines her head tenderly toward Jesus. Instead of pointing didactically, she touches him gently on the knee. Both glance and gesture indicate a new emphasis on his humanity.
Subtractions
While all of these are additions, we should also note some subtractions. There are no inscriptions on the panel, which, while not required, would have been usual in a late imperial icon. Nor are there any markings that would indicate the attachment of a silver cover, so that it was probably not designed for veneration in an Eastern church. And there are no notches cut for carrying in procession. (Some of this, unfortunately, is speculative. Extensive restoration, especially to the gold background, was carried out by yet another art dealer in the 1920s.)
Mary Elizabeth Podles is the retired curator of Renaissance and Baroque art at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. She is the author of A Thousand Words: Reflections on Art and Christianity (St. James Press, 2023). She and her husband Leon, a Touchstone senior editor, have six children and live in Baltimore, Maryland. She is a contributing editor for Touchstone.
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