Maria-Ecclesia and the Meaning of Marriage in the Late 13th Century

Abstract

By the end of the thirteenth century, the Church of Rome defined human marriage as incomplete before consummation in virtuous carnal intercourse. This article focuses on Cimabue’s emotionally charged and sexually explicit fresco representation of the Assumption of the Virgin, and shows that its stylistic verisimilitude makes visible human love as proof of the spiritual miracle of the Mystic Marriage of Christ and Maria-Ecclesia.

Keywords

• Art history
• Iconography
• History of the Church
• Marriage
• Cimabue
• Assumption of the Virgin