Taevavotmed ja kristusekaed – taimed lounapoolse Kesk-Euroopa reformatsioonieelses kunstis

• Authors: Ylle Sillasoo

Title variants

EN

KEYS OF HEAVEN AND HANDS OF CHRIST: PLANTS IN PRE-REFORMATION ART IN SOUTHERN CENTRAL EUROPE

• Languages of publication: ET

Abstracts

EN

One of the characteristics of the 15th–16th-century pre-Reformation sacral art in southern central Europe, as well as in the Netherlands and Italy, is the multitude of natural plant depictions. Depending on the artists and subjects of paintings, plant depictions could, similarly to animal depictions, fulfil the roles of attributes, allegorical and metaphorical devices and/or to represent various landscapes. The appearance and properties of plants, their habitats and usage are the fundamental features of plant symbolism. Plant names in late medieval and early modern period herbals is another important clue for understanding the meaning of vegetation shown in the context of landscapes. Natural plants in pre-Reformation art, as interpreted here, represent the syncretism of Christian and folk belief in mundane and spiritual life. The richness of popular elements in Christian art and their interpretation, however, was a reason for the discontinuation of the same pictorial tradition and its replacement by another, suppressed into institutional frames and more controlled by the authorities.

Keywords

EN

religious art; landscapes; flowering plants; plant names

• Publisher: Folk Belief and Media Group of the Estonian Literary Museum, Estonian Institute of Folklore, EKM Teaduskirjastus
• Journal: Mäetagused
• Year: 2013
• Volume: 55
• Pages: 53-74

Contributors

author

Ylle Sillasoo

• Tallinn University, The Estonian Institute of Humanities, Narva mnt 25, 10120 Tallinn, Estonia