If you have read Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy you know that the answer to the question of life is 42. The problem is that nobody remembers the question. This image is something I keep coming back to in my research, being new to medieval studies. Since the Christian dogma pretty much was controlling societies within the Church, the answer to images, texts and all other artifacts describing and communicating messages was the same. God became human through his son Jesus Christ, born from Virgin Mary, sacrificed to free all believing humans from eternal sin when crucified on Golgotha… Well, I might have left out some details to the story but Salvation made possible through Incarnation is the main bit, while faith and obedience are important pieces of the puzzle.

The main point in Christian Medieval art is the various path to the images and the right answer. Different techniques were used in order to make the viewers read and understand what was depicted. Aesthetics was the experience of beauty, not an ideal of beauty - images should do, not just represent, something. They moved the viewers, made them active in faith and spirituality through prayer or meditation. Since the levels of knowledge and learning varied widely in most congregations, images must also be able to communicate  to a wide audience.

The Pietá from Endre parish church (Gotland) below is part of a larger program with multiple scenes from the Story of the Passion. The Virgin Mary holds her dead son in her arms and two other women (also called Mary) are witnessing and sharing her grief. The dead body of Christ is well exposed as a sign of the sacrifice needed for the Salvation. The image both expose emotions and very realistic and matter of fact information. It is taking the viewer to the place of the Virgin and one can experience her pain, and this is what makes the image true and believable. It also reflects the images of The Virgin with Child, so the image can also be said to contain the Incarnation. And, finally (for this post at least, because I am just scratching the surface here of all the possible ways of reading this single image) this sad moment is also a message of joy. Christ will resurrect and save all that believes in God and that he was born and died a human in order to free all Christians from sin.

Be good on the soon approaching Holy Week, enjoy some of the fantastic music composed on the theme of Stabat Mater, and I promise to be back after Easter.