Saturday, October 8, 2011

Take another look

The first time ever I saw your face
I thought the sun rose in your eyes
And the moon and stars were the gifts you gave
To the night and the empty skies, my love,
To the night and the empty skies.

Written by Ewan MacColl for his wife, Peggy Seeger

This may look like one of the Madonnas that I have shown you before, but you will see that there is no Child. Chapter 12 of The Revelation of St John the Divine begins,"And there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." This woman is sometimes identified with Mary, the mother of Jesus. Some of the stars have fallen from the ring above her head. She is also trampling some sort of monster - a dragon or serpent - beneath her feet. Lots of symbolism here. The figure of Mary on top of the Salute also has a ring of twelve stars around her head and the moon beneath her feet.
It is probably a coincidence that there are seven stars on the ring and that Dante Gabriel Rossetti wrote a poem called The Blessed Damozel with the line: "And the stars in her hair were seven."
To find her, look east from where Katharine Hepburn fell into a canal.

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