Symbolism Of Pearls In Art
Madonna Surrounded by Seraphim and Cherubim by Jean Fouquet. Creation Date: 1454 - 1456. Dimensions: 94 x 85 cm. Medium: Oil on panel. Collection: Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, Belgium www.kmska.be/en/collection/artworks/madonna-surrounded-by-seraphim-and-cherubim
This is part of a series that will be on the new GigsList. It’s a whole book’s worth of research and coded art history.
Symbolism Of Pearls In Art
"There have been two pearls that were the largest in the whole of history; both were owned by Cleopatra, the last of the Queens of Egypt. They had come down to her through the hands of the Kings of the East....In accordance with previous instructions the servants placed in front of her only a single vessel containing vinegar, the strong rough quality of which can melt pearls. She was at the moment wearing in her ears that remarkable and truly unique work of nature. Antony was full of curiosity to see what in the world she was going to do. She took one earring off and dropped the pearl in the vinegar, and when it was melted swallowed it....With this goes the story that, when that queen who had won on this important issue was captured, the second of this pair of pearls was cut in two pieces, so that half a helping of the jewel might be in each of the ears of Venus in the Pantheon at Rome." Pliny, Natural History (IX.59.119-121; also Macrobius, Saturnalia, III.17.14-17
Madonna Surrounded by Seraphim and Cherubim by Jean Fouquet
What pops out is that the color of the Madonna and infant’s skin is the same luminous off-white as the pearls on the Madonna’s crown and throne. Her left breast is as round and luminous as a perfect pearl. According to the pearls, crown, rubies and ermine cloak the Madonna is a coronated monarch. A high queen or empress. The infant is pointing to her ermine clock, emphasizing that she is a coronated royal. Young royal women today are given pearls on their 16th birthday and their “coming out into society” at age 21. Pearls have always been a symbol of Mary Magdalene but also of one of her Grail ancestors. Venus, but that is another story.
The main colors of the painting are red, white, and blue, the colors of the French flag. Around her waist is a rope woven in Celtic knots. The Gaulish King Vercingetorix, during his 6 year imprisonment, had regular meetings with Julius Caesar. They became friends and Julius Ceazar came to respect the Celts and their Druids, but not their practice of human Sometime after his release, or escape, Vercingetorix looked after the son of Jesus, when the Holy Family escaped to France.
“Pearls have been used as adornment for centuries, at least as far back as ancient Greece, where they believed pearls were the tears of the gods. The oldest known pearl jewelry was discovered in the sarcophagus of a Persian princess who died in 520 BC. Because natural pearls were very rare throughout history, only the richest nobles could afford them. During the Byzantine Empire, rules dictated that only the emperor was allowed to wear these treasured gemstones. Ancient Egyptians were often buried with their prized pearls.” https://www.americangemsociety.org/page/pearlhistory
Museum Commentary
“Jean Fouquet’s Madonna Surrounded by Seraphim and Cherubim looks remarkably modern. Yet the French court painter Jean Fouquet painted it in the middle of the 15th century. The work was commissioned by Etienne Chevalier, treasurer to King Charles VII of France. Fouquet presents the Virgin Mary as the Queen of Heaven, the exalted mother of God. The unusual, intense use of colour and bold representation make the painting fascinating. Nine angels throng around her. The three blue cherubim represent purity and air, the six red seraphim love and fire. Mary is dressed in the aristocratic style of the 15th century. Her cloak and crown emphasize her eminence. The cinched waist accentuates her full, bare breast, which lends an almost erotic touch to the painting. Fouquet broke with tradition to paint the Madonna as a sensual and fashionable woman. Characteristic features are the glassy detachment and absent gaze he gave his figures. The child on her lap seems totally uninterested in her breast, and Mary is not really encouraging him to suckle.The red and blue angels in Madonna Surrounded by Seraphim and Cherubim are typical of Italian painting in the 14th and 15th centuries. In other words, their colour is not an ‘invention’ of the artist himself but an established mode of representation for the time. Blue and red were also the colours of the Paris municipal arms, while white represented royalty. What’s more, Mary wears a cloak made of ermine – the royal fur – above her dress. The work also has a political dimension, therefore, as a glorification of France and its monarchs.” https://www.kmska.be/en/collection/artworks/madonna-surrounded-by-seraphim-and-
