13. The Strahlenden Madonnen

  Madonnas Surrounded by Rays

n the Strahlenden radiant Madonnen, we have a third group of art works inspired by Chapter 12 of the Apocalypse.  Another (radiant) adaptation of the Woman clothed with the sun, these are statues of the Madonna and  Child surrounded by sunbursts, sometimes of great brilliance.  They became quite numerous in the Rhineland and elsewhere in Germany, beginning with the end of the fifteenth century.  Often they are found at the top of highly elaborate chandeliers raised above the main altar of a church. 

Our first example is from the Cathedral of Xanten, a town in the Rhine Valley.  We present two views: first, the entire sanctuary where this Madonna graces a large chandelier, and then a close-up of the statue itself, which goes back to the year 1501.

later Gothic work from Findelberg, near Saal in the far   north of Germany, some distance east and north of the better known city of Rostock.

nother work from northern Germany, an altarpiece by Christian Swarte, dated 1495, in the Marienkirche of Lübeck, thirty-five miles northeast of Hamburg.

trasbourg's Hans Baldung Grien (1484/5-1545), whose work shows the influence of Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach, and some others, painted this picture in 1511.

Standing on a crescent moon, the Woman of the Apocalypse floats within a frame of puffy clouds against a background of intense light.  John records the vision, as his symbol, the eagle, looks on and grasps the edge of a closed book.  The painting is now in the Metropolitan Museum of New York.

his Madonna was carved by Hans Leinberger, the most important sculptor in Bavaria between the years 1510 and 1530.  The statue, dating from around 1515-1520, is in the Church of St. Martin at Landshut, center of Leinberger's activity.  Originally, the image was surrounded by a carved rosary like the one encircling the Annunciation by Veit Stoss in the Church of St. Lawrence in Nürnberg.

ome miles north and west of Cologne and just south of Mönchengladbach is the town of Erkelenz.  There in the Church of St. Lambert, we find another Madonna, as at Xanten, atop a highly ornamented chandelier.  The work, attributed to one Johann Erwein of Cologne, dates to the year 1517.

Madonna, dated around 1530 from a church in Altenberg, a town south of Dresden, near the Czech border.

n some of the Strahlenden Madonnen we have seen, the Virgin Mary is depicted with either a crown or a scepter.  Our final four, from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, show forth her queenship more clearly.  In these she has both a crown and a scepter.  This first version, with a sunburst whose long rays almost overwhelm the statue itself, is of the seventeenth century.  It comes from the Church of St. John in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a town in Bavaria, not too far west of Nurnberg.

rom the Church of St. Kilian at Bad Heilbrunn, we have this statue of 1726.  Set against a sunburst of silver rays, the ensemble is surrounded by a mandorla of small angel heads cast in silver.  Heilbrunn is situated in the Rhineland, a short distance south of Heidelberg.

t Oelinghausen, near  Dortmund in western Germany, is a shrine honoring the Virgin Mary as queen of the area known as the Sauerland.  The pilgrimage church there houses this Strahlende Madonna dating from around 1730.  The statue is surrounded by a complex arrangement of sun rays.  Connected to these latter are twelve small angels, attached back to back, all poised as dancers.  Peering from the blue cloud at Mary's feet are three other angel heads.  Hovering over all is the dove of the Holy Spirit.

his very regal Madonna, clad in heavily gilt garments, dates from around 1750.  In her right hand, she holds out a long ornate sceptre.  Her left foot stands on a crescent moon, while her right crushes the head of the serpent.  In a playful mood, her son kicks up with his left foot, and with his right hand reaches towards his Mother's face.  The image, originally from Teistungenburg, is now housed in the Städtisches Museum of Göttingen.