| This study examines one aspect of the late medieval concern with empathetic devotion to Christ's Passion. In conjunction with this veneration, theologians and artists alike turned to the figure of Christ's Mother to help express the sufferings of the Passion. They explained and augmented her torments by interpreting her pain as compassion; her love for Christ caused her to endure His tortures with Him. In texts and visual images the Virgin played two principal roles--mediator and exemplar. Her sufferings could provoke the compassion of the worshipper and provide a model for imitation. Eventually, the compassionate Virgin became an independent object of veneration, leading to the creation of such devotions as the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin.;Images of Mary pierced by a sword come from all over Western Europe. They exist in media ranging from small ivories to monumental wall paintings and altarpieces. The motif is found in works as qualitatively diverse as mass-produced, crude woodcuts and luxury manuscripts. The earliest examples, dated c.1250-1300, consist mainly of scenes of the Crucifixion, in which Mary plays a secondary role. By the fifteenth century, however, they also include such themes as the Seven Sorrows, which were created to focus attention on the compassionate Madonna.;These depictions of Mary pierced by a sword are here considered in relation to other representations of the compassionate Virgin, and in conjunction with the role of the Virgin in the theology of empathetic devotion. Finally, this study examines the motivations behind the evolution of Mary's compassion into an independent object of veneration, and the images created for these devotions.;For their portrayals of Mary's compassion late medieval and Renaissance artists developed a pictorial vocabulary employed in hundreds of depictions. This study focuses on one means of expressing Mary's compassion, through a sword, or multiple swords, a motif deriving from the New Testament. In the Gospel of Luke, during Christ's Presentation, the High Priest Simeon prophesies that a sword would pierce Mary's soul. This sword was interpreted as a reference to the sufferings the Virgin would endure with her son during His Passion--her compassion. |
