John the Baptist is sometimes connected with the waning moon (Baptistry of Östr Hoby, Sweden, 12c) to explicate his role as the last prophet of the waning Old Testament which is regarded, simultaneously, as a promise of the New Testament. The moon contrasts here the sun as symbol of fulfillment, in other words, the New Testament, more specifically Jesus Christ himself, the sol invictus. The same contrast is used to signify ecclesia and synagoga. The latter is identified with the symbol of the waning moon.
Mary as the God-bearer is identified with ecclesia. She is standing on the
waning moon which points out that the Old Testament and synagoga are the
foundations of the Church. No doubt that we have here also the idea of
victory of ecclesia over synagoga. The motif of the luna is very old
(~820, MS 99 Paris, Valenciennes) and is not used in the beginning as an
attribute of Mary but of the Church. It is only in the 14/15c that a
lateral transfer takes place, meaning Mary occupies now in iconography the
place of the Church and inherits some of its attributes. The
Katharinenthal Gradual of 1312 shows an image of transition, where the
same feminine figure contains or bears the attributes of the Church, Mary
and the Apocalyptic Woman. The figure stands on a personalized half moon.
It is true that the visual elements, half moon, stars, sun, are borrowed
from Revelations 12,1. Early representations of Ecclesia (10-12c) show her
as the apocalyptic woman with the dragon. The motif of the apocalyptic
woman is applied in a variety of ways to Mary.
![[Trier]](/mary/images2/TrierCathedral1.jpg)
There exists, beginning around 1348, a type of Marian sculpture called Madonna standing on the crescent moon (Mondsichel-Madonna) where the reference to the apocalyptic woman is largely dissociated from the use of the moon symbol (for example, wooden sculpture, Trier, 1480). It sometimes opposes -- in representations of the Platytera -- the sun born from Mary and the human race in need of salvation (moon) (Katharinenthal, 1312). The crescent moon is used in representations of Mary's miraculous conception and birth (Joachim and Anna at the Golden Door, da Camerino, Tadino, ~1470). The crescent appears under Mary's feet in paintings of the Assumption (Meister of the Luzien-Legende, 1485) and signifies her glory and victory over time and space. The most important application of the moon symbol occurred in representations of the Immaculate Conception. The obvious significance of victory over sin is enriched with the ideas of beauty and purity (pulchra ut luna, Litanies of Loreto) (see for example, Francesco Vanni, Altar of the Immaculate Conception, Montalcino, 1588). During baroque times we can observe frequent combinations of the Immaculata motif with that of Our Lady of Victory. In some of these paintings or sculptures Mary stands on a globe combined with the crescent moon.
Image: Marian Altar
Cathedral of Trier (Treves)
Trier, Germany
Click on image to see it in its context.
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