Shrine Of The Virgin Mary Analysis

To be closed is to conceal the end from those who do not seek. To be opened is to allow the devotee to find salvation. The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Shrine of the Virgin Mary, from Rhine Valley, Germany circa 1300 AD, is a Vierge ouvrante which is “a form of devotional sculpture, whose exterior resembles traditional cult figures of the Virgin and Child, yet is fashioned so as to open at the center,”. The outside of this sculpture features a “tender representation” of the enthroned Virgin Mary nursing the Christ Child. The Virgin Mary does not engage with her son, though. She looks beyond him and the viewer as if she is seeking the end. The Christ Child, meanwhile, reaches his palm out to display what was once the dove of the Holy Spirit,

Each element in the creation of the sculptures was used to effect the viewer in a spiritual manner; the faithful would be able to recognize, at first glance, the chance for miracles, the chance for salvation. One such type of sculpture is that of shrine figures and small-scale statues. Because of their size, they are portable. The devoted could go on long journeys and carry their faith with them as the Holy Family did on their flight to Egypt. The Metropolitan shrine figure is 14 1/2 x 5 x 5 1/8 inches when closed. This indicates that at least two hands would be needed to hold it. Because of this intimacy, the viewer’s experience changes, “access to the interior is achieved only by touching the sculptures, making the viewer's experience both haptic as well as optic, as handling is necessary in order to view the figure's interior.” The viewer is unable to be passive if he or she wants to obtain the secrets within the

In the Metropolitan Shrine’s case, “the narrative fluidity of the scenes, which oscillate between the days of Christ’s Infancy and the moment of his birth, and the cyclical nature of Christ’s sacrifice and the moment of his death on the cross allow for different visual and devotional possibilities.” The viewer has the ability to choose his or her own path to follow; the viewer has the ability to take a mental journey with Christ away from the earthly realm; the viewer has the ability to find ultimate salvation with Christ and God the Father within the heart of the Virgin Mary. The viewer becomes a dynamic partaker in the passages set out before his or her