by Anura Guruge
on August 5, 2021
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I saw the above bas-relief at the ‘Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum‘ yesterday. I had not noticed it during my first visit 6-weeks ago. It is on the first (i.e., ground) floor, in the open corridor (by the courtyard) close to the stairs going up.
I had to do a double-take. I first thought that it was an image of Jesus. But, then it was obvious, from the clothing if nothing else, that it was meant to be feminine & was the ‘Virgin Mary‘.
Well, you can’t miss the ‘opening‘ — even if you tried. I had never seen this imagery.
Luckily there was a young docen right there — keeping an eye on the stairs. I engaged him. He was delighted to talk about it. Appears that he is also fascinated by this image. He had actually studied symbology in college. He even took me over and pointed the two ‘horns’ (on her head) I had not noticed. ENLARGE the image & have a look. It is very clear.
He told me to look up ‘Vesica Piscis‘. I did. I had never heard of it — & I have studied some amount of symbology (thanks to my fascination with ‘The Da Vinci Code‘). Appears that vesica piscis is a very old, widely used & significant symbol.
In the context of the Virgin Mary it represents the obvious. The birth canal (or the womb). It represents the Universal Beginning.
This makes sense. I had studied the related concept when it came to the entrances of cathedrals (in particular) — but, in general, most churches. See image below. Again, once you ‘see it’ there is no taking it back. Yes, the same thing. The entrance to the birth canal. In the case of church entrances it is to take you back to your roots. Look carefully. I circled them in the above image. Some entrances go as far as having a circular protuberance at the apex. They are not leaving anything to doubt.
This was quite the discovery. When time permits I intend to do more research. I did a quick ‘Google Lens’ on the image. I didn’t come across similar ones. But, I need to dig deeper.
P.S., This bas-relief was done in the 16th century. The date appears below it.
